US Army Corps of Engineers commits $4 bn to expand capacity of ports

These waterside investments will compliment landside investments at US ports and across the goods movement chain like the Port Infrastructure Development Grants announced in December last year.

Specific projects for fiscal 2021-22 include work to enhance the country’s ability to move goods; reinforce America’s largest port complex; and move more goods faster at one of the nation’s fastest-growing ports.

US ports and waterways are a cornerstone of the US economy. According to the 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure Report issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), in 2018, America’s ports supported more than 30 million jobs and approximately 26 per cent of our nation’s GDP.

However, decades of neglect and underinvestment have strained their capacity and jeopardised supply chains, the White House said in a press release.

The US administration will provide $858 million to support the replacement of locks that keep water levels high enough for large cargo ships to pass through the upper Ohio River, west of Pittsburgh.

It will also provide more than $470 million to complete construction of a new lock along St. Mary’s River in Sault Saint Marie, Michigan, which serves as a passageway for nearly all domestically-produced iron ore

The government will invest $8 million to improve commercial navigation and allow larger and more ships to pass at the Port of Long Beach, California—part of the nation’s largest port complex. The investment will support design work to widen the port’s main channel, deepen the entrance channel, and build an approach channel and turning basin.

Another $69 million will be invested to improve navigation and expand capacity at Norfolk Harbour, Virginia, which handled 67 per cent more containers in 2021 than it did 10 years ago. Work will include deepening and widening the harbour’s shipping channels to improve navigation and enable safer access for larger commercial and naval vessels, and to provide significant new economic opportunities to the region.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)