New Yorker, opinion Dec 2009

SAFETEA-LU, the existing surface funding mechanism, has now gained a second reprieve, extending funding out to mid-December. On Capitol Hill, transport funding is one small piece on the big chessboard that is the Federal budget. Ports have a great deal to gain when a new bill, with provisions for increased freight mobility (including road and rail connectors to ports) gets through the maze.

Stepping back and looking at US competitiveness, top economists have suggested that the locus of power has shifted from the West to the East. For 2010, growth rates for Asian economies are pegged near or above 10%; various economists are forecasting anemic 2% growth in the U.S. Strong infrastructure can play a role in bumping up this US number.

In early November, the well known investor Warren Buffett made what he called “a huge bet on the US economy”, announcing the acquisition of Burlington Northern Sante Fe Corporation (BNSF), a leading US railroad. BNSF is a beneficiary of intermodal business arriving in the West Coast (especially Southern California) and moving into the US heartland. Its “consumer” business unit generated $2.1bn revenue during Jan-Jun, 2009, with the “international” portion comprising nearly half. BNSF’s “agricultural” business (rail to ports in the US Gulf and Pacific Northwest) is also a big revenue generator.

As the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) noted in a recent letter to members of the US Congress: “Expedient passage of a surface transportation reauthorisation bill that will create jobs and spur economic recovery should be a clear priority for Congress in the coming year.

“To sustain economic growth and increase our international competitiveness, goods movement improvements need to be given higher priority in this reauthorisation, in terms of policy, planning and funding.”

All of this is easier said than done; we all know another old cliché, “cargo does not vote.” But Warren Buffett has now voted with $34bn. Hopefully the folks in Washington, DC will take notice.