Six US ports snare TIGER funding

That is the view of Kurt Nagle CEO of AAPA who said in a statement: “It’s important that projects from the full range of port sizes and types receive grant awards in upcoming rounds of TIGER funding.”

Of the 585 applications submitted totaling US$9.3bn in requests this year, six awards totaling $61.8m, or 12.36% of the total funding is going to commercial seaports or projects that directly aid the efficient movement of goods to and from America’s ports.

This year’s TIGER grants will go to the Port of Albany to enhance project cargo handling, the renovation and reconstruction of a ro-ro dock at Gordon A. Finch Terminal on the Virgin Islands, the south terminal modernisation project at the Port of Everett, the reconstruction and expansion of a wharf at the Port of Guam, rail and road infrastructure improvements at Portland Marine Terminal in Oregon and improvements to the Little Rock Port Authority in Arkansas.

During TIGER’s first round in fiscal 2009, port-related infrastructure projects received about 8.6% of the original $1.5bn allocated. In subsequent rounds, port-related infrastructure did better, garnering 14.6% in the second, 12.8% in the third, 13.6% in the fourth, 13.3% in the fifth, and 12.4% in the sixth.

The highly competitive TIGER grant programme supports innovative projects, including multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional projects, which are difficult to fund through traditional federal programmes.