The California Gov. Galvin Newsom presented his 2022-23 state budget proposal “The California Blueprint”, that includes a record investment of $2.3 billion for California ports.
Specifically, the Governor’s $2.3 billion plan for ports includes:
- Port Infrastructure and Goods Movement: $1.2 billion for port-related projects that increase goods movement capacity on rail and roadways serving ports and at port terminals, including railyard expansions, new bridges, and zero-emission modernization projects.
- Zero-Emission Equipment and Infrastructure: $875 million for zero-emission port equipment, short-haul (drayage) trucks, and infrastructure.
- Workforce Training: $110 million for a training campus to support workforce resilience in the face of supply chain disruption and accelerate the deployment of zero emission equipment and technologies.
- Commercial Driver’s Licenses: $40 million to enhance California’s capacity to issue Commercial Driver’s Licenses.
- Operational and Process Improvements: $30 million for the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development to provide funding for operational and process improvements at the ports. This could include enhancing the movement of goods and improving data interconnectivity between the ports to enable efficient cargo movement, reduce congestion, and create opportunities to increase cargo volume by promoting and building supply chain efficiency.
The Governor’s budget allocates $2.3 billion for ports to address bottlenecks in our supply chain, advance our efforts to decarbonize the freight system, and ensure a robust and resilient workforce continues to move goods on behalf of the state and nation
said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, adding that these funds “will prove to be a powerful combination that accelerates delivery of critically needed projects like a first-of-its-kind goods movement workforce training campus, cargo support facilities, digitalization enhancements, and zero-emission equipment and charging infrastructure.”
The Port of LA in California is experiencing severe problems lately with containerships backlogs. In order to deal with this issue, it plans to charge a fee to ocean carriers that allow empty containers to linger on the Port’s marine terminals for nine days or longer, from January 30.
Any fees collected from dwelling cargo will be reinvested for programs designed to enhance efficiency, accelerate cargo velocity and address congestion impacts.
