Hurricane Katrina's ferocious winds swiped at one of the world's busiest seaports Monday, disrupting the flow of a vast array of materials that could affect international grain supplies and possibly drive up prices in the nation's hot housing market.
Tampa Electric relies on coal passing through a terminal in Davant, La., south of New Orleans. The Davant terminal, which processes coal shipped down the Mississippi River from mines up north, was under "a few feet of water" Monday, said Ross Bannister, spokesman for the utility.
Though a complete damage assessment of the terminal has not been done, Bannister said TECO has enough coal stockpiled in Hillsborough "to last us some weeks."
Progress Energy Florida of St. Petersburg was also awaiting word on Monday about damage to coal terminals it uses, but officials said its coal supplies aren't as heavily reliant on shipments across the Gulf of Mexico. Roughly half of its coal is transported to the company's Florida power plants via rail shipments, which haven't been affected by Katrina, according to spokesman Mac Harris.
Other businesses may not escape so lightly.
Its proximity to the American Midwest via a 14,500-mile inland waterway system means New Orleans is a major conduit for grain, rice, poultry, containerized cargo, forest products, copper, zinc, aluminum and manufactured goods.
New Orleans is a leading port for the movement of imported steel from countries such as Japan, Brazil, Russia and Mexico. It is the nation's top port for natural rubber and the second-leading handler of coffee, with 14 warehouses, more than 5.5-million feet of storage space and six roasting facilities in a 20-mile radius.
The Port of New Orleans is responsible for more than 107,000 jobs, $2-billion in earnings, $13-billion in spending and $231-million in taxes statewide.
James Lee Witt, a former Federal Emergency Management Agency director, told Knight Ridder that housing reconstruction and repairs and the need for temporary housing could strain homebuilding supplies. That's likely to drive up national housing prices, which many experts fear may already be inflated, he said.
Michael Carliner, an economist with the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, D.C., said Katrina's cleanup efforts might drive up the nationwide cost of housing materials such as windows and plywood for roofing.
"If the supply were not already tight, then it would be less of a concern," he said. "Things are already tight for several products."
Natural gas pipelines, which supply fuel to utilities such as Peoples Gas System, avoided damage from Katrina.
Florida Gas Transmission, which operates a pipeline network that extends from southern Texas along the Gulf Coast to Florida, and Gulfstream Natural Gas System, which operates a newer pipeline through the Gulf of Mexico from coastal Mississippi and Alabama to Florida, said Monday that Katrina did not affect the flow of gas through their facilities.
But both pipeline operators noted that their suppliers evacuated production platforms in the gulf ahead of the storm and that it was too early to determine whether those platforms had sustained any damage. Significant damage could delay the resumption of natural gas production, which in turn could affect the amount of gas that reaches Florida utilities.
Natural gas accounts for about 20 percent of Progress' fuel mix and about 45 percent of Tampa Electric's .
--Information from Knight Ridder Newspapers was used in this report.
