Infrastructure Investment
Infrastructure Investment
U.S. GREAT LAKES PORTS EXPANSION ATTRACT NEW BUSINESS FEDERAL INFRASTRUCTURE GRANTS KEY TO NEW PROJECTS BY BILL BECK
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.S. Great Lakes ports are attracting new cargos and economic activity for their local communities following infrastructure investments to upgrade their dockside facilities. From Cleveland to Burns Harbor to Duluth, many of these projects have been helped by federal and state grants, underlying the importance that marine shippingrelated investments be included in any upcoming national infrastructure legislation. “Ports are economic engines for their communities. They attract inward investment, support wellpaying jobs and are vital to the global competitiveness of the region’s industries,” says Chamber of Marine Commerce President Bruce Burrows. “President Donald Trump put
infrastructure investment at the heart of his election platform. Investing in Great Lakes ports and inland maritime shipping is investing in the future success of America.” At the Duluth Seaway Port Authority (DSPA), for example, the big port on Lake Superior is in the midst of $24 million in infrastructure capital investment. “The big generator was a $10 million TIGER grant in 2013,” Port Interim Executive Director Kevin Beardsley said. “We got another $4 million in state grants, and put in $4 million of our own money.” The TIGER grants (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) are a supplementary discretionary grant program included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and are
awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Since the program was first created, $5.1 billion has been awarded for capital investments in surface transportation infrastructure over eight rounds of competitive grants. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao noted in soliciting applications for the 2017 round of grants this past September that “TIGER grants will continue to fund innovative projects that will improve the safety of America’s passengers and goods.” DSPA used its $10 million TIGER grant to rebuild and expand a 28-acre general cargo dock at the Port of Duluth-Superior and connect the site to existing road and rail infrastructure. The project helped transform underutilized Docks C & D, which were in a deficient condition,
into a fully functional intermodal facility to support existing industries and the growth of new commerce throughout the Midwest.
Connecting Port of Duluth to road/rail network The project has helped bolster the economic competitiveness of the region by increasing import and export capacity at the Port, while helping to promote increased U.S. exports via the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. By connecting the Port of Duluth to the nation’s highway and rail network, the project will facilitate more environmentally sustainable freight transportation. The refurbishment of Docks C & D paved the way for the port to kick off Duluth Cargo Connect, a partnership between the Duluth Superior Port Authority and Lake Superior Warehousing, working in conjunction with CN’s rail network in the region, helping to open up a new logistics supply chain and growth opportunities for the port’s partners and shippers in the region. Minnesota is also one of two Great Lakes states that operate a state port assistance program. The Washington, D.C.-based American Great Lakes Port Association (AGLPA) notes that state programs can be “a critical source of grant assistance to rebuild dock walls, provide dredge material disposal, and redevelop waterfront facilities.” AGLPA points out that other states should consider emulating Wisconsin’s Harbor Assistance Program, which since its inception in 1979 has invested more than $110 million in the state’s Great Lakes and Mississippi River ports.
FASTLANE award program
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EXPANDED GENERAL CARGO DOCK AT PORT OF DULUTH-SUPERIOR
Another U.S. Department of Transportation program used to encourage infrastructure projects is the FASTLANE small project
award program. The Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies Discretionary Grant program is part of the 2015 federal legislation Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. Now in its second fiscal year, the program is already attracting interest among U.S. Great Lakes port directors. In 2017, the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor was awarded a $9.85 million FASTLANE grant for enhanced intermodal facilities with rail and truck marshaling yards at the Lake Michigan port. The FASTLANE grant will cover half of the $19.7 million project. The port expansion will include the construction of a new 2.3-acre cargo terminal with multimodal connections for handling cargo transfers between ships, barges, rail cars and trucks. The port will also add 4.4 miles to the existing 14-mile rail network and build two new railyards for storage of 165 rail cars. Rich Cooper, Ports of Indiana CEO, is a big fan of leveraging federal and state grants for infrastructure projects. The statewide port commission, which also operates two ports on the Ohio River in southern Indiana, was a 2015 recipient of a TIGER grant of $10 million for Truck-to-Rail and Rail-to-Water Improvements at the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville. “W ith these investments, companies using water to move cargo will have new options for their inbound raw materials, outbound finished products and transferring shipments between ships and barges, rail cars and trucks,” Cooper said.
Cleveland and Chicago port priorities William D. Friedman, president and chief executive officer of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, agrees that upgrading infrastructure can pay dividends in the long term. “We want to make
sure that the infrastructure is good,” he said. “We’ve spent a lot of money as the local sponsor for dredge spoils disposal.” Friedman added the port “needs to make some good-sized investments at its bulk cargo facility.” Part of that project includes $8 million worth of dock remediation. “We were able to re-purpose an older earmark to free up some federal money,” Friedman said. “We worked through the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to get that done.” The port also received federal money for two new Liebherr Mobile Cranes, two container handling reach stackers and a new transit shed for transloading. On tap at the port is a gate upgrade at the general cargo dock. “We continue to handle more containers and a lot more trucks,” Friedman indicated. At the Illinois International Port District (IIPD), a recently passed piece of state legislation allowed the Chicago port to change its debtequity position. In the process, the legislature erased nearly $15 million of debt that had been on the port books for years. “The bill didn’t give me $15 million,” said Clayton Harris III, IIPD’s President and CEO. “It gave me an eraser. The probability of achieving our goals is increased. We’re moving from possibility to probability.” Improving infrastructure is a big part of the planning process the Port District is undergoing at Harris’ direction. “When we publish our fiveyear plan,” he said, “it’s a roadmap for our 10-year and 20-year plans.” Utilizing $2.3 million in grant funding, the Port District is re-doing Butler Drive at Lake Calumet, the main thoroughfare to the port and the heart of multi-modal transportation in Chicago. The $15-$18 million project will eventually involve an upgrade of rail networks, transit sheds and the dock wall serving the port. “It’s an example of what we can do in the future,” Harris said. n
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