The$ 20 billion ports plan by Biden needs a significant increase, according to growing choruses, to put an end to decades of network carelessness that now threatens commerce and national security.
President Joe Biden, in an executive order this February, directed$ 20 billion in allocations from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill ( BIL ) into a five- year grant program dedicated to modernizing America’s 361 commercial ports.
” But if you put it in context of a$ 1.2 trillion infrastructure” package approved under the 2021 BIL and 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act, “it’s less than 1 percent. In that environment, it’s not a lot of money”, he told The Epoch Times.
There are years-long calls to switch ports to properly handle megaship container carriers, but the nation’s ninth-busiest commercial port is empty since the Singapore-flagged 95, 000-ton Dali knocked down Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26. Only a few U.S. ships are capable, and changes are required to support supply stores that generate$ 5.4 trillion in regional economic activity annually.
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” The problem is, if you look at how much money we spend in that infrastructure bill on maritime, it is a fraction” of what is needed, said Dr. Salvatore Mercogliano, a professor who analyzes maritime commerce at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina.
He claimed that there is n’t as much federal funding for ports as there is for maritime commerce.
” You actually had the Secretary of Transportation]Pete Buttigieg] at a press conference” on the Dali crash” come out and say,’ You know, there’s really no one in charge ‘” of national maritime policy and that the U. S. Maritime Administration ( MARAD )”‘ does n’t have the power the FAA does to control air, so there’s no central place that should be looking out for ports and maritime policy,’ which I think is an inherent flaw in the government’s oversight of shipping”.
As a result, he said,” There’s no cohesive national strategy. So you have ports competing with each other, costing taxpayers money so they can get the ships” that concentrate commerce in ports that can get bigger, while those that cannot become backwaters, leaving supply chains—and national security —vulnerable should a mishap, natural disaster, military attack, or terrorist act sink one ship or bring down one bridge to block one port’s sea lanes, ensnarling the flow of goods nationwide.
Global Issue, American Crisis
There were numerous glaring, blinking red warnings that global maritime supply chains are increasingly vulnerable to challenges, including those relating to the Panama Canal’s low water conditions, 2020-21 pandemic disruptions, megaship groundings like those that shut down the Suez Canal for weeks, and Houthi missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea before the Dali’s crash into the Key Bridge.
In the United States in November 2021, when the nation’s largest seaport, the Port of Los Angeles, was overrun by container carriers in a weeks-long backlog that accelerated inflation and disrupted commerce nationwide, those global aggravations were amplified.
Mr. Darr, a U. S. citizen, said the world was watching when the nation’s largest seaport’s “land- based logistics capacity could not efficiently process all the import cargo that was arriving” in Los Angeles.
” We are optimistic that Congress’s subsequent investments in U.S. port and land-side infrastructure will, at some point, provide additional capacity and resilience to handle similar future supply- and- demand surges caused by geopolitical and other unanticipated major events,” he said.
A megaship would be one of the” Unanticipated Major Events” that would involve blocking sea lanes and destroying a bridge.
There are only a few U.S. ports that can handle a significant increase in volume, compared to Baltimore, the East Coast’s largest importer of automobiles, without significant economic impact.
Capt. Konrad has long been one of the maritime commerce advocates who has pressed for more federal attention to the nation’s ports and merchant shipping regulations.
” It’s like all the seaports and river ports and waterways across the entire country get less than… a fraction of what]the Biden administration ] is giving to electric buses”, he said.
He suggested that the Maritime Administration ( MARAD ) be in charge of port improvements and expansions rather than the Defense Department ( DOT ) and the United States Department of Transportation ( DOT ) spending a total of$ 8 billion on electric buses.
The administration’s meager investment in ports and maritime commerce “makes no sense”, Capt. Konrad said, “especially considering that shipping]emits less ] carbon emissions. So if they want to save the planet, that’s where you put the money. But they do n’t”.
Long Sad Story
None of this, however, is new, Capt. Konrad said.
” It’s been a complete and utter failure by the Department of Transportation over decades”, he said, a slide that began in the 1960s that has accelerated since the early 2000s beginning with the Bush administration.
Capt. Capt. Konrad said.
” Meanwhile”, he continued, “what is left is a tiny shell of an agency called Maritime Administration]MARAD]. The DOD and FAA have over 40, 000 employees. MARAD has 800, so they’re completely unable to accomplish anything and over at DHS, they]control ] the Coast Guard budget and give them more things to do”.
” How can you help ]free- trade Washington- based think tank ] CATO dismantle the Jones Act and undermine American shipping? How can you subvert crucial U. S. Navy shipbuilding subsidies? How can you prevent funding for ports and marine highways by obstructing the$ 1.2 trillion infrastructure bill? he asked in an October column. How can you keep the flow of Chinese goods on Chinese ships at U.S. ports? Simply refuse to pick up the phone.
MARAD “is broken and Secretary Pete does n’t care”, Capt. Local residents end up having to invest all this money in the ports, Konrad told The Epoch Times. Then, because the [locally imposed ] safety costs are too high, or the ship traffic is too low, or the channels are not deep enough to accommodate megaships, they see it heading to another port.
The Dali’s bow pinioned under the fallen Key Bridge’s steel girders, clogging a vital sea lane likely for weeks, is a clarion call for policy reform and infrastructure refocus, Capt. Konrad and Mr. Mercogliano, among others, maintain.
” Due to the lack of a viable maritime sector, American supply chain absurdities abound and self- embargoes continue” to threaten the economy and national security, he said.
According to Mr. Cahill,” American ships frequently use cheap Chinese state-owned shipyards for major upgrades and improvements, while their owners use the money to lobby to stop competition because of the Chinese “mere threat.”
Under these conditions, he said, “efforts to ‘ level the playing field’ will remain elusive” until the federal government makes port infrastructure and rebuilding the nation’s merchant marine a priority.
