The negative impact of under investment in US Ports

The report concludes that unless America’s infrastructure investment gaps are filled, transporting goods will become costlier, prices will rise, and the US will become less competitive in the global market. As a result, employment, personal income, and GDP will all fall due to inaction.

“Congestion and delays lead to goods waiting on docks and in warehouses for shipment, which in turn leads to higher transportation costs and higher-priced products on store shelves,” said Andrew Herrmann, president of ASCE. “If we don’t close the investment gaps, everyone is going to feel the negative impacts because we are on course to lose more than 1m jobs and more than US$1 trillion in personal income by 2020.”

The nation’s ports and inland waterways are critical links that make international commerce possible. However, with the scheduled expansion of the Panama Canal by 2015, the average size of container ships is likely to increase significantly, affecting the operations and most of the major US ports that handle containerised cargo and requiring both sectors to modernise. Needed investment in ports includes harbour and channel dredging, while inland waterways require new or rehabilitated lock and dam facilities.