Federal spending priorities reflect both the importance of domestic seaports and the maritime industry itself. At the same time, the continued abject neglect of the waterfront in the face of massive infrastructure spending is undeniable. This week, check out YOUR world, by the numbers…
The U.S. Department of Transportation has spent more than $30 billion to individual states for stimulus projects. That number could grow to more than $45 billion, if all of the money obligated is paid out to allow more projects to go forward. In 2011 alone, more than $5.6 billion has been handed out; most of which goes to pay for infrastructure work on roads and bridges, freight and passenger rail systems and airports. Only a small fraction of it ever reaches the ports and related infrastructure that carries 98 percent of the goods that are shipped annually to and from the United States.
The amount of money reported to have been spent on security improvements at American ports since 9/11. In the wake of those horrific attacks, the federal government quickly realized that the potential of a similar action in one of our larger intermodal and/or petrorefining transportation hubs could easily devastate the economy. These improvement included the star-crossed TWIC program; an expense which now approaches $500 million for a system of ID cards and (apparently nonexistent) readers that were intended to ensure that the nation’s 1.6 million truck drivers, port employees and longshoremen did not pose a threat to port security.
The amount DOT is providing to Illinois and California to purchase locomotives and other railcars. The funds represent part of the allotment rejected by the state of Florida that was intended to be used for a high-speed rail line. The federal government refuses to reallocate these funds for port projects, such as the one initiated by Florida’s governor to deepen the port of Miami – all using local funding. At least two other states have also refused the high speed rail money.
The amount represented by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s announcement that 13 small shipyards throughout the United States had been granted money to help modernize facilities, increase productivity, and help make the country’s small shipyards more competitive in the global marketplace. The DOT announcement correctly notes that more than 50,000 Americans are employed by small shipyards in more than 30 states. This week, LaHood said, “These grants will help improve our ability to build and repair ships in the United States, strengthening our economy and helping position these small businesses and shipyard workers to be better prepared to win the future.” Marad’s Small Shipyard Grants Program provides money to help this segment of America’s maritime industry invest in production equipment, provide technical skills training for employees, and maintain and create well-paying jobs. Also note in the same release, Marad received over 118 grant applications requesting $105 million in assistance, but the federal government felt that disbursement of less than 10 percent of that total was appropriate.
I have a friend in the maritime industry – a well-respected and accomplished mariner and maritime professional – who always tells me, “Joe – if you want to get to the bottom of the real story, then simply follow the money.” He is usually right. In this week’s eColumn post, it also isn’t hard to follow the bouncing ball, or as my friend tells me, the money.
The federal government recognizes the importance of U.S. seaports in the grand scheme of the nation’s critical intermodal transportation equation. $2.5 Billion in security upgrades over a ten year period is ample testimony to that. Where the “disconnect” between security and commerce occurs just isn’t clear, however. Of the more than $30 Billion already expended by the federal government on infrastructure improvements, only a tiny fraction ever reaches the waterfront. And, with 2014 looming large in the porthole (the scheduled completion of the newer and deeper Panama Canal), it won’t be long before those mega-sized containers start showing up at U.S. ports of call. They’ll have to be half loaded, though – few if any U.S. ports are dredged to adequate depths to accept these vessels. This reality continues to be lost on Transportation Secretary LaHood, who continues to give the waterfront lip service, but not much more.
The $10 million in shipyard grants announced this week are nice. By themselves, they represent less than 3 percent of the $336 million being underwritten by the feds on one of just dozens of similar grants; this one for railcars and locomotives in two states alone. Indeed, the hallmark of this Administration’s transportation infrastructure blueprint seems to be the $50 billion intended for domestic high speed rail that nobody seems to want – money, by the way, that has already been refused by at least three states, and counting. DOT and Marad like to trumpet these miniscule grants when they happen. We should be grateful, but let’s also keep these events in perspective.
As a collective maritime industry, maybe we need to develop a little backbone. Take, for example, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant ADM Robert Papp, who recently testified that the Coast Guard will soon need more resources in Arctic in order to do their jobs. Papp has been pleading for more in the way of special equipment as the Arctic Ocean opens up to commerce because of the rapidly melting polar ice there. In an exclusive interview published in our 2Q edition of Maritime Professional magazine, Papp insisted, “If the country wants us to do these things, it’s my responsibility to go to Congress and say, ‘we don’t have the resources to do that. Give me the resources, and I’ll do the job. Or, give it to some other agency.” Papp is clearly done with “doing more with less.” Maybe we should take the same posture.
It does seem to me that if it is important enough to spend billions on port security, then it is equally important to send a bit more in the way of help to that same waterfront in way of infrastructure improvements. While we’re at it, the cost of a new Coast Guard icebreaker is said to be just shy of $1 billion. That’s a lot of money, but we also need the boat. Maybe we can peel that out of the $50 billion high speed rail plan to make it happen.
Someone needs to tell the federal government that before any of that freight, passengers or oil can reach the railways and highways, it has to come through the ports – and now, through unprotected, icy Arctic waters, too. I guess I just did. – MarPro
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Joseph Keefe is the lead commentator of MaritimeProfessional.com. Additionally, he is Editor of both Maritime Professional and MarineNews print magazines. He can be reached at keefe@marinelink.com or at jkeefe@maritimeprofessional.com. MaritimeProfessional.com is the largest business networking site devoted to the marine industry. Each day thousands of industry professionals around the world log on to network, connect, and communicate.