The Congress announced, on February 13, that the American Association of Ports Authorities (AAPA) will fund US port-related programs, in the Consolidated Appropriations Act. Important for the AAPA is the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) funding for a dedicated port infrastructure program in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) Maritime Administration.
Thus, House and Senate appropriators agreed to provide $292.73 million in funds for U.S. coastal port grants to be distributed by the Maritime Administration as part of its Port Infrastructure Development Program.
The minibus funding agreement includes $900 million for USDOT’s Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grants, which when combined with funding for MARAD’s infrastructure program, brings USDOT’s multimodal grants funding level to almost $1.2 billion.
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Although less than the $1.5 billion provided for BUILD grants in fiscal 2018, the difference is the dedicated infrastructure funding for ports.
The minibus agreement also provides increased funding for MARAD’s America’s Marine Highway Program from $5 million last fiscal year to $7 million in 2019.
Also, the funding includes $255 million for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program, which can be used for multi-modal port access projects.
In addition, Kurt Nagle, AAPA president and CEO commented that the Association is dedicated to port infrastructure development funding, while recently it identified $66 billion in port-related infrastructure needs over the next decade to build projects that better connect ports to the freight network, with rail and road access points.
The funding will ensure US job creation, economic growth and tax fairness.
Except THUD, there are several programs that ports will depend on, that will get increased funding, such as:
- The Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) grants program appropriation will rise 1%, from $75 million last year to $87 million in 2019.
Ports will benefit from this grant to decrease air emissions through various initiatives as clean truck programs, retrofitting or replacing yard equipment, installing shore power for vessels at docks, and retrofitting dredges and tugs.
- Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency staffing, which rose by 325 officers in 2018, will increase by 600 officers this year.
AAPA, which supports increasing CBP officers by at least 500 per year, is concerned in recent years over CPB understaffing at America’s seaports.
- NOAA’s Navigation, Observations and Positioning (NOP) program is set to receive $227 million, a $7.8 million rise above fiscal 2018 funding.
Included is $2 million that will go to funding hydrographic surveys to update nautical charts. NOAA’s popular PORTS program is a component of NOP, and fiscal 2019 funding is the same as last year.
