The Port of New Orleans bucked the worst economic slowdown in 70 years because its business of providing warehouse space for the London Metal Exchange (LME) expanded rapidly over the last two years, Reuters reported.

Gary LaGrange, the president and chief executive of the port ravaged five years ago by Hurricane Katrina, told Reutersu that its business with the world's biggest metals exchange grew more than 600 percent during the preceding year-and-a-half.

"LME has really been a savior for the Port of New Orleans over the last year, 18 months," he said.

"We've benefited from a huge influx of ships bringing copper, lead, aluminum, zinc, nickel and tin into the Port of New Orleans to be stored in all of our LME warehouses throughout the city and the port. Our LME business has really proliferated over the last 18 months and we anticipate that will continue to proliferate," LaGrange explained.

Data compiled by the port showed that imports of copper anodes and ingots into its warehouses in the first nine months of 2009 climbed to 162,500 tonnes. That was up 673.11 percent over the same period in 2008.