US ports suffer from ‘identity problem’

Speaking at a keynote address at the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) convention he said that ports are important, but people don’t know about them, “even though they define our economic landscape”.

The Administrator talked extensively about the ongoing development of the US National Maritime Strategy, a process two years in the making and which includes the expansion of key bulk and energy ports, as well as the big containerised cargo gateways. On the subject of the strategy, he said: “We have one chance to get it right.”

MARAD has been working in conjunction with industry representatives on its “Strong Ports Toolkit” that will aid ports in evaluation of projects, and presentations of economic analysis. The first work product, a Funding Strategy module – developed in conjunction with the AAPA – has already been made available to the port community, with the next module, an investment evaluation toolkit, in the works.

The Administrator also stressed the importance of the ongoing Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants programme, but noted a downturn in applications from ports. He also noted that billions of dollars of new Federal credits will be available for port projects through changes in the existing Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) programmes.

Mr Jaenichen also pointed to a newly established clearinghouse at the US Department of Transportation (the parent of MARAD), known as the Build American Transport Investment Center (BATIC). The new portal aims to simplify the task for ports to applying for Federal funding. Citing a large $500m project at the Port Newark Container Terminal, Capt Jaenichen said that these funding sources can now be applied to “inside the gate” projects at ports.

The most recent round of TIGER grants saw $500m of awards, with $44.3m of that going to port- related projects at Port Hueneme, Baltimore, Ports of Indiana, San Diego and Newport, Oregon. This represented 5% of $10.1bn worth of applications.