Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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INTRODUCTION
The United States’ more than 300 ports1 serve as major liquids and manufactured goods and equipment.
economic drivers and places of employment. According
Port facilities vary widely in terms of productivity,
to the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA),
footprint, customers, and governance.3 Some ports
seaports contributed $5.4 trillion to the economy, or
are privately owned and operated, while others are
nearly 26% of the total GDP in 2018. The economic
managed by a government or quasi-government
impact of ports is only growing. AAPA estimates that
authority representing a city or state.4 The owner of a
30.8 million jobs were supported by ports in 2018, up
port may lease space or infrastructure to a tenant, most
from 23.1 million in 2014.2
commonly a terminal operator. Terminal operators are
Seaports in the U.S. are often located in or adjacent to responsible for maintaining equipment and buildings, but
large coastal metropolitan areas. By comparison, inland typically partner with a public agency for major capital
ports are located on the Great Lakes or the inland projects.5 The varied ownership structures contribute to
waterway network and are frequently in more rural the uniqueness of each port — the industry saying goes,
areas. Ports thrive on their flexibility to handle a variety “once you’ve seen one port, you’ve seen one port.”
of products, from bulk aggregates and agriculture to
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Creative Commons
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INNOVATION
In the U.S., the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles through open-sourced platforms can improve
each have one fully automated terminal. Three semi- efficiencies at ports. Such benefits are already being
automated terminals can be found in Virginia and New realized abroad.32 Advanced analytics also aid ports
Jersey.30 Automation stands to add throughput capacity in becoming more resilient as predictive approaches
and provide safety benefits.31 driven by machine learning ensure flexible, responsive,
and adaptive management amid highly complex and
Advanced analytics, such as blockchain, use existing
dynamic scenarios.
and historic data collected with devices and sensors,
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· Adopt new technologies to reduce wait times at docks, boost efficiency, improve
resilience, and increase security.
· Improve freight and landside connections to strengthen the entire freight system
and reduce congestion that is costly to the economy when moving goods.
· Ensure that ports are a part of comprehensive disaster planning. Ports play a critical
role in the aftermath of a disaster, facilitating the movement of people and the
delivery of supplies. Integrating ports into a holistic disaster recovery plan — one
that is developed with all stakeholders and is based on the data and data sharing — is
vital to ensuring a community can quickly recover.
· Port owners and operators should utilize asset management to prioritize limited
funding and pinpoint needed repairs.
· Ensure smaller ports can compete in existing and new competitive grant programs.
· Spend down the balance of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund on port projects.
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Ports 2. American Association of Port Authorities, “2018 National Economic Impact of the
U.S. Coastal Port System,” March 2019.
16. Davis J, Eno Center for Transportation, “DOT Announces $1.5 Billion in BUILD
Surface Transportation Grants,” December 11, 2018.
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24. American Society of Civil Engineers, “Ports and Inland Waterways: Anchoring the
U.S. Economy,” January 2021.
25. American Association of Port Authorities, “2018 National Economic Impact of the
U.S. Coastal Port System,” March 2019.
27. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “USNS COMFORT Arrives in New York in Support
of COVID-19 Response Efforts,” Washington Headquarters Services, U.S. Military,
press release, March 30, 2020.
29. Phillips E, Wall Street Journal, “At the Water’s Edge, Seaports Are Slowly Bracing for
Rising Ocean Levels,” February 11, 2019.
31. Leonard M, Supply Chain Dive, “Brief: Moody’s: With port automation comes
political risk.” June 27, 2019.
32. Port of Rotterdam, Carbon Neutral in 3 Steps, accessed September 29, 2020.
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