Gov. Jindal announces International Shipholding Corp. will relocate to New Orleans

Gov. Bobby Jindal announced on Wednesday (Feb. 5) that International Shipholding Corp. will relocate its corporate headquarters from Mobile, Ala., to New Orleans, where the company was founded in 1947.

Speaking at the Port of New Orleans, Jindal said that International Shipholding, which is listed on the New York State Exchange, had moved to Mobile in 2006 due to recovery challenges posed by Hurricane Katrina. In returning to New Orleans, Jindal said, the company will bring 100 new jobs to a 45,000 to 50,000-square-foot facility in the city's warehouse district.

"These are the kind of jobs we want our kids to get, the kind of jobs that will keep them home and bring them back from other states," Jindal said, adding that the new jobs will pay an average $70,000 before benefits. He went on to say that another 113 indirect jobs will result from the relocation.

International Shipholding president Erik L. Johnsen said that construction of the new office space will be complete by the end of 2015. He admitted that the incentive package offered by the state of Louisiana, which includes performance-based grants of $10.27 million to offset the costs of the move and the new facility, was what "sealed the deal." But several other factors, such as the local business environment and strategic growth opportunities, also convinced the company to come back.

More at http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2014/02/gov_jindal_announces_relocatio.html#incart_river .