Reviewing the list of recipients, you will o see only the big marquee ports on this winners’ list. Rather, with this highly political program being very much about spreading money and favors all around, the list includes projects in a few places that shipping people may not be readily familiar with.
Among the better known grant recipients, the Maryland Port Administration snared $10m for improvements at the Port of Baltimore, which will go towards enhancements at the Fairfield Marine Terminal, which handles automobile exports. Dredged material, as the approach to the Sea Girt Marine Terminal is deepened, will be used as landfill to expand the working area at the auto terminal.
Just up the bay, Wilmington, Delaware (vice president Joe Biden’s home town) will be receiving $10m for fixing up two antiquated docks, which will play a role in “…preventing the loss of customers to alternative foreign ports….”, according to the official USDOT briefing sheets.
In Houston, the Bayport Marine Terminal, a container handling dock, has garnered a $10m grant for expanding its wharf, in anticipation of purchasing three rail mounted gantry cranes for handling bigger ships that may come into the port with a widened Panama Canal.
Also down in the US Gulf, the biggest port-related Tiger grant, $14m, went to the local port authority running the Port of Pascagoula, in Mississippi, for relocating a rail line which will bypass the town- rather than running directly through it. Pascagoula, known for its Ingalls shipbuilding facility, and with a large VT Halter presence, is hoping to construct a major facility for exports of wood pellets, expected to move to European markets. The rail line, linked to the CSX Railroad, would serve the pellet facility, as material comes in from the hinterland.
Farther afield, the Port of Eastport- in the far reaches of Maine, was allocated $6m for fixing up its 50 year old breakwater. Eastport has seen cattle exports in recent years, in addition to movements of forest products out of its docks. Up in the Great Lakes, $10m is going for enhancements at the port of Duluth- including enhancements to a dock that will support“…regular long term container service on the Great Lakes.” Well, maybe?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent, the Port of Garibaldi, in Oregon, will receive a grant of $1.5m for improving waterfront access and “enhancing the port’s ability to handle multi-modal cargo.” OK.
Communications from the USDOT, such as they are, are likely to get more interesting in the coming months; the new USDOT Secretary Anthony Foxx (from Charlotte, NC - home to Horizon Lines) has hired Sarah Feinberg, a politically connected communications specialist to be his Chief of Staff. Feinberg’s resume includes time working at Facebook. Make sure to click “Like” if your favorite port is applying for USDOT funding next year.
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