RAMPing up American port potential

Amid all the thrashing, it may be getting caught up in a bigger transportation funding debate in the Capitol, namely the $260bn, five-year transport funding initiative proposed by Republican Congressman John Mica.

Invariably, the bigger issues related to highway funding are at the front of the pack, and when the scrum clears, maritime and port related considerations are at the back – if they have not been completely jettisoned.

For the past three years, transport funding has gone hand to mouth, in crisis mode rather than part of a long term plan. Deep within the Mica bill, there is some talk, without any money authorised, about development of a national freight policy, and a blueprint for advancing intermodalism of the type that would keep trucks off the roads. This is all about congestion mitigation; if you continue to build roads, traffic will come, and clog them up.

All this analysis is good stuff for consultants who could shift containers off the road to rail links with the stroke of a computer mouse. However, for the theories to work, real deep-drafted ships need to get into ports.

Though I don’t expect every single East Coast port to assume “megaport” status, deeper is better. To my New York way of thinking, the RAMP bill (which would enable funds to spend on dredging and deepening) should stay separate from the $260bn package.

Even though the AAPA has applauded the Mica bill (which includes language similar to RAMP), I think that a separate bill has a better chance of not getting drowned out, and focusing law-makers minds’ on the port business.

One very local loose end worthy of mention concerns Brooklyn, where they can’t build any roads even if they wanted to (and had unlimited money, which they don’t). The CBP, which deploys customs inspectors, is actually considering pulling its personnel out of an import terminal at Red Hook – which is closer to the ultimate destination for boxes coming in.

According to box counters around the docks, this would result in something like 4,000 annual truck trips across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to Staten Island or New Jersey for inspections. Hello…anybody home at CBP? If national policy is looking for ways to reduce truck traffic on the roads, let’s start with a no-brainer (excuse me, boys) close to home.