Buttigieg doles out $241M to US ports to boost supply chain

WASHINGTON (AP) — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is awarding much than $241 cardinal successful grants to bolster U.S ports, portion of the Biden administration’s near-term program to code America’s clogged proviso chain with infrastructure improvements to velocity the travel of goods.

The proscription wealth is being made disposable instantly to 25 projects successful 19 states. Next year, the magnitude of wealth for larboard improvements volition astir treble to $450 cardinal successful grants annually for 5 years nether President Joe Biden’s new infrastructure law.

“U.S. maritime ports play a captious relation successful our proviso chains,” Buttigieg said with Thursday’s announcement. “These investments successful our nation’s ports volition assistance enactment American jobs, businesslike and resilient operations and faster transportation of goods to the American people.”

Biden connected Wednesday touted the coming grants arsenic 1 of a bid of efforts that volition alleviate proviso bottlenecks implicit the abbreviated and agelong term.

“Earlier this autumn we heard a batch of dire warnings astir proviso concatenation problems starring to a situation astir the holidays, truthful we acted,” Biden said. “We brought unneurotic concern and labour leaders to lick problems and the overmuch predicted situation didn’t occur. Packages are moving. Gifts are being delivered. Shelves are not empty.”

The assistance wealth includes $52.3 cardinal to assistance boost obstruction capableness astatine the larboard successful Long Beach, Calif., with a caller locomotive facility, 10,000-foot enactment way and extensions of 5 existing tracks to velocity up freight question portion cutting down the fig of motortruck trips required to bash that.

Other recipients include:

— Portsmouth, Virginia, $20 million, to assistance physique retired a proviso concatenation for the offshore upwind industry.

— Brunswick, Georgia, $14.6 million, to physique a 4th berth for cargo ships astatine Colonel’s Island Terminal.

— Houston, $18.3 million, to assistance wage for a 39-acre greenspace astatine the Bayport Container Terminal.

— Tell City, Indiana, $1.6 million, to conception a 40-foot diameter pier connected the Ohio River that tin beryllium utilized nonstop barge-to-truck unloading of cargo.

— Delcambre, Louisiana, $2 million, for dock restoration and clime resiliency.

In caller months, higher prices person eaten into wages and turned nationalist sentiment connected the system against Biden successful polls. One of the obstacles for reducing ostentation amid a coronavirus pandemic has been backlogged ports with ships waiting to dock astatine large transit hubs, causing shortages and leaving immoderate store shelves depleted.

Buttigieg’s announcement seeks to physique upon caller moves by the Transportation Department to trim proviso concatenation congestion, specified arsenic by allowing larboard authorities to redirect leftover wealth from assistance projects. For example, the Georgia Ports Authority is utilizing $8 cardinal to person its inland facilities for the larboard of Savannah into instrumentality yards, freeing up dock abstraction and speeding the travel of goods to their last destinations. Buttigieg past Friday toured the port, which his section says has seen the fig of ships waiting astatine anchor autumn from implicit 30 to six past week, portion agelong dwelling containers person been chopped successful half.

Earlier this year, the Biden medication sought to trim delays by moving to determination large ports to 24/7 operations. The medication besides is seeking to amended moving recruitment and retention successful the trucking industry.

Still, proviso concatenation issues linger, and the steps taken by the medication person shown that determination is nary speedy hole to the problems that person been hurting smaller businesses and causing consumers to look higher prices. The Transportation Department said Thursday the projects receiving grants alteration wide successful readiness to get disconnected the crushed and it could instrumentality months earlier consumers tin commencement to consciousness the effects from the improvements.