New Orleans is home to one of the largest and busiest ports
in the world, and metropolitan New Orleans is a center of maritime industry.
The New Orleans region also accounts for a significant portion of the nation's
oil refining and petrochemical production, and serves as a white collar
corporate base for onshore and offshore petroleum and natural gas production.
New Orleans is a center for higher learning, with over 50,000 students enrolled
in the region's eleven two- and four-year degree granting institutions. A top
50 research university, Tulane University, is located in New Orleans' Uptown
