U.S. Awards $580 Million in Port Improvement Grants
The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced plans to invest nearly $580 million to fund 31 additional port improvement projects in 15 states and one U.S. territory. The funding comes from MARAD’s Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP), which received $2.25 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to improve port infrastructure to meet the nation’s freight transportation needs.
MARAD highlights that the last grants include a broad range of port improvement projects that will strengthen supply chain reliability, create workforce development opportunities, enhance freight efficiency, lower costs, reduce emissions, and improve the safety, reliability, and resilience of U.S. ports. The funding is designed to help increase both capacity and efficiency at coastal seaports, Great Lakes ports, and inland river ports.
“America’s ports are essential to our nation’s supply chains, and thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration, we have projects underway all across the country—from Long Beach to Milwaukee to Monroe—that are making it possible for our ports to move more goods each year and keep costs down for families,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. “We’re building on this good work and funding more projects that will expand capacity, improve efficiency, and facilitate the quicker movement of goods at ports in more than a dozen states.”
Among the projects receiving grants in the latest round of the Port Infrastructure Development Program is $50 million for Anchorage, Alaska to construct a new general purpose cargo terminal at the Don Young Port of Alaska. Oakland, California receives $49.5 million for structural upgrades and improvements at the Port of Oakland while the Georgia Ports Authority receives $49.9 million for the Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal to create a self-contained, on-terminal power distribution network fed from dedicated, GPA-owned substations that removes the terminal from the city’s power sources. Bellingham, Washington receives nearly $11 million for improvements to its port.
The program also invests in a broad range of inland ports. For example, Hennepin, Illinois receives $38.6 million to build a new dock and systems for handling soybean products.
A full list of awarded Port Infrastructure Development Program projects is on the MARAD website.
MARAD highlights that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which was enacted three years ago in November 2021 included a historic $17 billion to modernize U.S. ports and waterways. The administration has used that authorization to make investments in more than 580 port and waterway projects to strengthen supply chain reliability, speed up the movement of goods, reduce the costs of everyday items, and lower carbon emissions.
As the Biden administration is winding down it is working to complete the implementation of this and other key pieces of legislation. The Infrastructure Law provided significant investments that also included airports, roadways, bridges, and rail projects. It was viewed as the most comprehensive investment effort into the U.S. infrastructure in decades.