The Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District (the Port of Lake Charles) was created in 1924 by the State Legislature. Covering an area of almost 130 thousand acres in Calcasieu Parish, the public facilities at the Port of Lake Charles handle five million tons of cargo each year. The Port of Lake Charles has two marine terminals, the city docks, Bulk Terminal No. 1, and two industrial parks. The 12.2-meter (40-foot) deep Ship Channel meets the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway 19 kilometers (12 mile) south of the Port of Lake Charles City Docks.

The Port of Lake Charles's 4.8-kilometer (3-mile) long Industrial Canal Terminal connects with both the Ship Channel and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. At the Industrial Canal's east end is an almost 50-acre turning basin with a depth of 12.2 meters (40 feet). The main cargoes handled at the Port of Lake Charles' Industrial Canal Terminal are rice, flour, food products, forest products, petroleum products, aluminum, barites, and rutile.

The 12-meter (40-foot) deep Calcasieu Ship channel links the Port of Lake Charles's City Docks to the Gulf of Mexico. The 200-acre City Docks facility contains the Port of Lake Charles Public Grain Elevator, general cargo facilities, and a vegetable oil packaging plant.

The Port of Lake Charles general cargo facilities offer 13 deep-water berths with more than 41 acres of covered storage space. Berths 1 through 10 have alongside depth of 10.7 meters (35 feet), and Berths 15 and 15B have alongside depth of 12.2 meters (40 feet). The Port of Lake Charles City Docks is located in Foreign Trade Zone 87.

• Bulk and breakbulk terminals

The Port of Lake Charles's Dry Bulk Terminal is located on the Calcasieu Ship Channel some 48 kilometers (30 miles) inland from the Gulf of Mexico. This Port of Lake Charles terminal has a 671-meter (2200-foot) long wharf with alongside depth of 12.2 meters (40 feet) dockside. The Dry Bulk Terminal in the Port of Lake Charles can load two vessels at once at a rate of 5.2 thousand short tons of petroleum coke per hour.

The Port of Lake Charles Dry Bulk Terminal can transfer cargo from vessel to vessel, vessel to truck, vessel to rail, or vessel to open storage. The Dry Bulk Terminal in the Port of Lake Charles handles more than 3.1 million short tons of dry bulk per year. The terminal is equipped with a 100-ton rail car roll-over facility, three rail car shakers, a rail unloading pit, a hydraulic truck dump, a radial stacker, and an adjacent truck scale.

The Port of Lake Charles owns and operates Berths No. 15 to ship and receive both domestic and foreign conventional general cargo and to ship linerboard and other paper products. This Port of Lake Charles berth has two platform-level tracks that connect to additional terminal tracks and to the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads.

Contiguous with the Port of Lake Charles's Berth No. 15B, concrete ramps at the Berth 15 transit shed provide access by trucks at the west end. The transit shed has an 8-truck loading platform at the east end. It also has a one-truck platform at the rear of the transit shed. Open storage is provided at Berth No. 9A. Berth No. 15 in the Port of Lake Charles has berthing space of 259 meters (850 feet) with alongside depth of 12.2 meters (40 feet) MLG.

The Port of Lake Charles' Berth No. 15B is used to ship and receive both domestic and foreign conventional general cargo. The face of the wharf is contiguous with the Port of Lake Charles's Berths No. 1, 2, and 3 and with Berth No. 15. One platform-level rail track connects to additional port tracks and connects with the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. A 5-truck loading ramp is located at the rear of this Port of Lake Charles transit shed, and open storage is provided at the rear of Berth No. 9A. Berth No. 15B in the Port of Lake Charles has berthing space of 114 meters (374 feet) with alongside depth of 12.2 meters (40 feet) MLG.

The Port of Lake Charles' Public Grain Elevator Contraband Bayou Wharf is used to ship grain and wood ships. The wharf is contiguous with Berth No. 9A and with Berths No. 7, 8, and 9. The Grain Elevator at the rear of the wharf consists of 14 concrete silos and 14 storage tanks with total capacity for one million bushels. Four steel shipping tanks have capacity for 12 thousand bushes. At the rear of this Port of Lake Charles wharf is a 1.6 thousand square meter (17 thousand square foot) automated bagging plant.

The Contraband Bayou Terminal in the Port of Lake Charles is an automated terminal with a 4.3-acre warehouse. The warehouse has four palletizers, six depalletizers, two rail car unloaders, and two spiralveyors. This multi-modal Port of Lake Charles facility is connected by truck, rail, conveyors, and barge from the bagging facility.

Three surface rail tracks at the rear of the Port of Lake Charles' Contraband Bayou Wharf (one serving car pit with a 3.3 thousand bushel car-loading hopper and two for storage with capacity for 20 rail cars) connect with the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads. The Port of Lake Charles's Contraband Bayou Wharf has berthing space of 206.7 meters (675 feet) with alongside depth of 10.7 meters (35 feet) MLG.

The Port of Lake Charles' Bert No. 9A is used to ship and receive domestic and foreign conventional general cargo and to ship bagged commodities. Berth 9A is contiguous with Berths No. 8 and 9 and with the Contraband Bayou Wharf and Public Grain Elevator. At the rear of Berth No. 9A is a 20-acre open storage area that is shared with all of the terminal facilities in the Port of Lake Charles. Two car-floor level tracks at Berth No. 9A connect with the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads. The Port of Lake Charles' Berth No. 9A has berthing space of 282.2 meters (926 feet) with alongside depth of 12.2 meters (40 feet) MLG.

Berths No. 1, 2, and 3 in the Port of Lake Charles are used to ship and receive conventional general cargo and to ship sulfur compounds and caustic soda in domestic and foreign trade. Contiguous with Berth No. 15B, these Port of Lake Charles berths are connected by pipeline with storage tanks with total capacity for 300 thousand gallons at the Bulk Terminal Berth No. 6. At the rear of these berths is a transit shed with five loading platforms. Two platform level tracks at the rear transit shed connect with additional terminal rail tracks and with the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads. The Port of Lake Charles' Berths No. 1, 2, and 3 have berthing space of 511.5 meters (1678 feet) with alongside depth of 10.7 meters (35 feet) MLG.

Berths No. 4, 5, and 6 in the Port of Lake Charles are used to ship and receive both domestic and foreign conventional general cargo. Open storage is provided at Berth No. 9A. Two surface rail tracks that are 969 meters long (3180 feet) and two platform level rail tracks of the same length join with the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads. Additional rail tracks serve 15 storage warehouses at the rear of the transit shed with over 37 thousand square meters (400 thousand square feet) of space. The Port of Lake Charles' Berths No. 4, 5, and 6 have berthing space of 512 meters (1680 feet) with alongside depth of 10.7 meters (35 feet) MLG.

The Port of Lake Charles' Berths No. 7, 8, and 9 are also used to ship and receive both domestic and foreign conventional general cargo. Berths 8 and 9 are contiguous with Berth 9A and with the Port of Lake Charles Public Grain Elevator and Contraband Bayou Wharf. Open storage is provided at Berth 9A. Two car-floor level tracks about 442 meters (1450 feet) long serve the rear of Transit Shed No. 9 and the south side of Shed 7. The tracks also connect with the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads. Berths No. 7, 8, and 9 at the Port of Lake Charles have berthing space of 290 meters (950 feet) with alongside depth of 10.7 meters (35 feet) MLG.

• Oil / Liquid terminals

The Fournet Street Terminal in the Port of Lake Charles is located in the Foreign Trade zone. It is a liquid bulk terminal serving barges and trucks. The Fournet Street Terminal has an over three thousand square meter (34 thousand square foot) warehouse. The site for the Port of Lake Charles Fournet Street Terminal is 11 acres, and it is both an Enterprise Zone and a Hub Zone.

• Other terminals

The Port of Lake Charles's Inbound Terminal (BT-4) has a 76.5-meter (251-foot) dock with dolphins extending to 102 meters (335 feet) and alongside depth of 10.7 meters (35 feet). Deck height is 3.7 meters (12 feet) above MLW.

The Westland Terminal in the Port of Lake Charles is a 54-acre waterfront property that is available for development. Accessible by barge and truck, the site has all utilities.

• Stevedores

Empire Stevedoring (New Orleans), James J. Flanagan Shipping Corporation (Beaumont), Lake Charles Stevedores (Lake Charles)

• Rail and intermodal connections:

Kansas City Southern Railway Company, Union Pacific Railroad, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad

• Pilot Services

Lake Charles Pilots Association

• Bunkering Services

BP Oil, Fuel & Marine Marketing, Intergulf Corporation

• Marine Repairs

Bludworth Marine LLC, Bollinger Calcasieu LLC, Preventative Maintenance Services Inc., R & R Marine Services

The State of Louisiana owns, and the State's Department of Wildlife and Fisheries operates the Boathouse Slips to moor patrol and research vessels. At the rear of the slips are office, laboratory, and an equipment storage building. The Boathouse Slips have berthing space of 11 meters (36 feet).

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