Posted on April 13, 2021
Critical report on America’s 300+ coastal and inland ports:
Overview
The nation’s more than 300 coastal and inland ports are significant drivers of the U.S. economy, supporting 30.8 million jobs in 2018 and 26% of the total GDP. Ports and port tenants plan to spend $163 billion between 2021 and 2025, up by over $8 billion in the last four years. Investments are focused on capacity and efficiency enhancements as maximum vessel size has doubled over the last 15 years, and tonnage at the top 25 ports grew by 4.4% from 2015 to 2019. Federal funding has increased through multimodal competitive grant programs. However, there is a funding gap of $15.5 billion for waterside infrastructure such as dredging over the next 10 years, with additional billions needed for landside infrastructure. Smaller and inland ports are especially challenged to maintain their infrastructure and have difficulty competing for federal grants. Meanwhile, a port’s success is reliant on the infrastructure outside of its gates, which is often congested or in poor condition. For example, just 9% of intermodal connector pavement — the portions of roadway that connect a port to other modes — are in good or very good condition.
- Seaports contributed nearly 26% of the total GDP in 2018
- Ports and port tenants plan to spend $163 billion on their own infrastructure between 2021 and 2025
- 30.8 million jobs were supported by ports in 2018
Introduction
The United States’ more than 300 ports serve as major economic drivers and places of employment. According to the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), seaports contributed $5.4 trillion to the economy, or nearly 26% of the total GDP in 2018. The economic impact of ports is only growing. AAPA estimates that 30.8 million jobs were supported by ports in 2018, up from 23.1 million in 2014.
Seaports in the U.S. are often located in or adjacent to large coastal metropolitan areas. By comparison, inland ports are located on the Great Lakes or the inland waterway network and are frequently in more rural areas. Ports thrive on their flexibility to handle a variety of products, from bulk aggregates and agriculture to liquids and manufactured goods and equipment.
Port facilities vary widely in terms of productivity, footprint, customers, and governance. Some ports are privately owned and operated, while others are managed by a government or quasi-government authority representing a city or state. The owner of a port may lease space or infrastructure to a tenant, most commonly a terminal operator. Terminal operators are responsible for maintaining equipment and buildings but typically partner with a public agency for major capital projects. The varied ownership structures contribute to the uniqueness of each port — the industry saying goes, “once you’ve seen one port, you’ve seen one port.”
Capacity & Condition
Port infrastructure includes docks, piers, channel harbors, and more. In general, the conditions from terminal to terminal within a port vary. However, all ports are challenged to maintain their infrastructure in harsh marine environments. Corrosion from saltwater and de-icing salts, constant wet and dry cycles, temperature variations, and more accelerate the rate of decline of everything from cranes to wharfs. Port owners are tasked with monitoring the structural integrity of their infrastructure in these harsh environments.
Explore Capacity & Condition
Funding & Future Need
Funding for port infrastructure is derived from a variety of sources, including federal, state, and local funding, as well as private sector revenue streams. Waterside infrastructure needs — namely for dredging — are paid for through the federal Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF). The HMTF collects its revenue through a 0.125% user fee on the value of the cargo in imported containers, which equates to approximately $15 per container box. Ports, particularly on the East and Gulf coasts, have significant dredging needs, but the fund’s balance has traditionally been used to pay for things other than port needs, its designated purpose.
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Operations & Maintenance
The USDOT Strategic Plan identifies lifecycle and preventive maintenance as a strategic objective to keep the nation’s infrastructure in a state of good repair. To implement this strategic objective, the Maritime Administration initiated an internal review in 2017 and found that ongoing planning frequently fails to target state-of-good-repair projects and could be better at considering resiliency to threats like weather and earthquakes. The Maritime Administration subsequently instituted a risk-based asset management program and is encouraging port owners and operators to utilize the risk rating and scoring systems created by the agency.
Public Safety & Resilience
Ports have a key role to play in helping a community recover from a natural or manmade disaster. Goods can be transported via oceans and inland waterways to communities in need when other trade routes are blocked. Similarly, berths can accommodate emergency vessels and personnel, as was observed in 2020 when the 1,000-bed hospital ship USNS Comfort docked at Port 90 in Manhattan to serve patients during the COVID-19 crisis. Ports are also able to support force deployment in the instance homeland protection is needed. Nine federal agencies, including the U.S. Army, Army Corps of Engineers, and the Maritime Administration work together to ensure preparedness for national defense emergencies.
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Innovation
Advanced Analytics
In the U.S., the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles each have one fully automated terminal. Three semi-automated terminals can be found in Virginia and New Jersey. Automation stands to add throughput capacity and provide safety benefits.
Advanced analytics, such as blockchain, use existing and historic data collected with devices and sensors, through open-sourced platforms can improve efficiencies at ports. Such benefits are already being realized abroad. Advanced analytics also aid ports in becoming more resilient as predictive approaches driven by machine learning ensure flexible, responsive, and adaptive management amid highly complex and dynamic scenarios.
Raising the Grade
Solutions that Work
Remove the multimodal cap on INFRA funds and increase overall investment in the INFRA and BUILD programs to ensure ports can effectively distribute and receive goods as ships continue to grow in size.
Appropriate funds to the Congressionally authorized projects to ensure that projects crucial to freight movement are completed in a timely manner.
Adopt new technologies to reduce wait times at docks, boost efficiency, improve resilience, and increase security.
Improve freight and landside connections to strengthen the entire freight system and reduce congestion that is costly to the economy when moving goods.
Ensure that ports are a part of comprehensive disaster planning. Ports play a critical role in the aftermath of a disaster, facilitating the movement of people and the delivery of supplies. Integrating ports into a holistic disaster recovery plan — one that is developed with all stakeholders and is based on the data and data sharing — is vital to ensuring a community can quickly recover.
Port owners and operators should utilize asset management to prioritize limited funding and pinpoint needed repairs.
Ensure smaller ports can compete in existing and new competitive grant programs.
Spend down the balance of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund on port projects.
