The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) recently issued a detailed analysis report exploring what must be done in order to meet the multimodal funding needs of U.S. seaports.
The report, called “The State of Freight III: Rail Access + Port Multimodal Funding Needs Report,” explains the basic needs of ports to effectively move goods into and out of their facilities by land and water, according to the AAPA. In the AAPA’s survey, U.S. port authorities outlined more than $20 billion in projected multimodal port and rail access needs over the next decade. One-third of port authorities also quoted pressing rail project needs, costing at least $50 million, for each of their ports.
The State of Freight III included the following findings:
- 67% said that funding and financing options are the biggest obstacles in getting essential rail projects started to access their facilities.
- 37% said that problematic at-grade rail crossings or height-restricted overpasses and tunnels near their ports are constraining cargo-handling capacity.
- 36% reported that land acquisition is a big problem in developing and planning port rail access projects.
Additionally, below please find a screenshot from the State of Freight III report:
AAPA President and CEO Kurt Nagle said, “The findings show that while the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act has been essential in providing the building blocks for a national freight program, more must be done to ensure that multimodal goods movement projects have adequate resources to produce efficient and timely results. These transportation projects are crucial to address our nation’s increasing freight volumes and enhance America’s international competitiveness.”
The State of Freight III report also addressed the importance of railroads and their importance to ports, as the AAPA explained “of all the connections to ports, rail provides a unique, efficient and speedy method of moving cargo out of congested areas to distribution centers.”
According to the AAPA, the results show that “while the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act has been essential in providing the building blocks for a national freight program, more must be done to ensure that multimodal goods movement projects have adequate resources to produce efficient and timely results.”
