When New Orleans Port President Gary LaGrange looks at the barge still sitting against the Crescent City Connection, his emotions peak.

"It worries me, it worries me,” LaGrange said, “because I haven't seen a lot happening in two days. It’s not my job; its not the port's job or our responsibility, but it is very depressing and frustrating."

LaGrange says the economic impact of the oil spill has already reached $500,000 a day for the New Orleans area.

"We know that in the Port of New Orleans alone it is over 2000 jobs a day," he said.

"They’re not giving us any time limit on when we are going to go back to work so bill collectors are going to be there," said Dwayne Burrell, a longshoreman.

Longshoremen Dwayne Burrell and Kevin Wilson have not worked since the collision occurred Wednesday. They say they and co-workers are already feeling the financial impact. Friday morning Wilson stripped damaged copper wire out of his flooded home, and sold it.

"That was a way of making a payday for me today,” Wilson said. “I can't say that for the other 200 guys. Tomorrow? I don't know what idea I'll come up with tomorrow."

But the port president says as ships scheduled to unload cargo in New Orleans are delayed, the impact begins to spread to other parts of the country.

"Tennis shoes, computers, televisions, board feet of lumber, plywood, all the products, soaps, candles, all the things that come through the Port of New Orleans are not reaching consumers in Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Tulsa, Oklahoma," LaGrange said.

LaGrange said the spill is already costing the American economy $275 million dollars a day, and as delays stretch past four days, he says that figure climbs exponentially.

"If it doesn't get out of this port within 36 hours to the consumer, or to the distribution facility, somebody up in Chicago is paying more for their pair of socks," said LaGrange.

Gary LaGrange says this could not have come at a worse time, just as the Port of New Orleans was recovering from Hurricane Katrina, and at a time when the national economy is in trouble. But now there's a new worry: ships scheduled to come to New Orleans are now beginning to switch ports, which could be very bad news, both in the short and long term.

"By Sunday, it’s going to be no less than 11 or 12 ships that will have been diverted to some other port. For the Port of New Orleans, what does that mean short term and long term. Could you lose that business forever? Well, it is always possible, yes."