Ports usually compete against each other to ship a limited amount of goods.
But recently, officials running the ports of Mobile, Houston and Tampa joined in an effort to recruit more Asian service to the Gulf of Mexico.
Lyons said he and his colleagues in Houston and Tampa have had discussions with about a dozen ocean liners to try to convince them that there is enough demand to make the route worthwhile. He said a few were interested, but he doesn’t expect anything to happen until next year.