Port Users Want Infrastructure Investment

By Karen Robes Meeks

A group representing the nation’s largest seaports, major marine terminal operators as well as the agricultural sector and big box retailers sent letters to President Donald Trump and Senate and House leaders urging them “not to overlook America’s ports” in the overall investment plan on infrastructure. The Coalition for More Efficient Ports consists of the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and New York/New Jersey, Ports America and SSA, Agriculture Transportation Coalition and the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

“Outdated infrastructure at our nation’s ports threatens to interrupt the supply chain and ultimately the American economy,” the coalition wrote to the president in a letter sent January 3. “This critical infrastructure challenge must be met by increased public and private investment in US ports.”

The coalition brought up the ports’ vital economic role, supporting 23 million jobs and generating more than $321 billion in tax revenue in 2015, according to the American Association of Port Authorities. It also quoted Business Roundtable’s assertion that “underinvestment in ports results in increased prices and lost economic opportunity – as much as tens of billions of dollars every year.”

LA Port Round-Up: New Roadway Breaks Ground, Security Expert Tapped

Officials from the Port of Los Angeles were joined by city and federal representatives to break ground on a 1.3-mile redevelopment of Harry Bridges Boulevard located on the northern side of the port's TraPac container terminal and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics auto terminal. 

Expected to be completed in 2012, the $22 million project will completely revamp the stretch of roadway, which runs from the northern end of Gibson Boulevard to the southern end of Alameda Street and serves as the main route for trucks heading from the port to State Route 47. The project will include grading, utility relocations, construction of concrete walks, gutters, driveways, traffic signals, fire hydrants, street lighting storm drainage, signage, landscaping, irrigation and fiber optic infrastructure.

While the completed project will maintain the roadway's current two lanes in each direction, expansion of the roadbed during the project will provide space to add an additional lane in each direction if future demand increases.

The project is being funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and is expected to create more than 250 local construction jobs.

In other Port of Los Angeles news, port officials have approved a contract with security expert Stephen Flynn to assist the port in developing a program and securing support from government and industry to increase the scanning of containerized cargo destined for the port prior to loading at overseas terminals. Flynn will also be responsible for working with port staff in seeking public sector and/or industry funding for this program, including funding for the overseas deployment of cargo screening equipment. The port approved the one-year contract term with two, one-year renewal options, for an amount not-to-exceed $200,000.

Flynn, recently named the President of the Center for National Policy, is also a bestselling author on the topic of national security. Prior to joining the CNP, he spent a decade as a senior fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Following the election of President Barack Obama, he served as the lead policy advisor on homeland security for the presidential transition team. He also currently serves as a member of the bipartisan National Security Preparedness Group, co-chaired by former 9/11 commissioners, Governor Tom Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton.

LA Council Agrees With Container Tax Delay

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to delay implementation of a per-container tax that was supposed to generate up to $1.4 billion for bridge, rail and road infrastructure within the city's port area and within the neighboring Port of Long Beach.

The vote confirms an identical decision by the Los Angeles Board of  Harbor Commissioners in July that postponed any collection of the tax until July 1, 2010.

Due to the structure of the Los Angeles city government, certain decisions made by the Harbor Commission must be affirmed by the City Council.

Officials at the adjacent Port of Long Beach decided in April to postpone any collection of the tax until at least July 1, 2010.

The two ports jointly approved the collection of the container tax in January 2008, with an original implementation date of Jan. 1, 2009. The tax, which would have varied between $6-per-TEU and $20-per-TEU and would have been imposed on all loaded inbound and outbound boxes, was supposed to be collected through 2015.