Positive and negative aspects for ports in US 2014 budget

With regard to modernising and maintaining the US port navigation infrastructure, AAPA commends the budget request for being US$42m higher than last year’s US$848m request for the coastal navigation portion of the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Programme. Kurt Nagle, AAPA’s president and CEO, said however, that the budget proposal still “misses the mark” set out in the MAP-21 surface transportation legislation passed by Congress last year.

“On one hand, we’re pleased the budget request has been bumped up for vital navigation channel maintenance projects. On the other, we’re disappointed that it is still hundreds of millions shy of what Congress called for in MAP-21,” said Nagle.

The AAPA is concerned at the 28.5% budget reduction to pay for improving the country’s deep-draft navigation channels to accommodate today’s larger, more fuel-efficient vessels. “Maintaining our federal navigation channels to their constructed dimensions would help buoy our economy and create jobs by making US exports more internationally competitive and would make for safer and more efficient access into and out of our ports,” Nagle added.