Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund

Biden budget pumps $84 million into Virginia port deepening

The deepening and widening of Norfolk Harbor at the Port of Virginia was for the first time included in a federal budget with $83.7 million that will help ensure the project remains on course for completion in 2024.

The project funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was part of President Joe Biden’s 2022 budget proposal released on Friday. The $350 million project will deepen the port’s channels to 55 feet and widen the channels to allow two-way traffic for ultra-large container ships and...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/biden-budget-pumps-84-million-into-virginia-port-deepening

Port of Los Angeles outlines spending plans for new tax funds

The Port of Los Angeles plans to take advantage of changes made to a tax aimed at maintaining harbor depths by using it to fund upgrades needed to accommodate the port’s growing cargo and cruise ship business.

Testifying Tuesday at a subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said that the historical defined uses of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) prevented the port from accessing those monies – even though...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/port-of-los-angeles-outlines-spending-plans-for-new-tax-funds

Port expansion included in giant federal spending package

President Donald Trump is expected to sign on Tuesday a massive relief and federal spending package passed by Congress late Monday that authorizes major port expansion projects and opens $1 billion in funds for harbor maintenance dredging.

The port funding legislation, the biennial Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), was part of a $1.4 trillion fiscal year 2021 appropriations omnibus bill that also contains $900 billion in emergency COVID-19 relief and program funding for the U.S. Department...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/port-expansion-included-in-giant-federal-spending-package

ILWU: Don’t blame labor for ports’ market share drop

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently has received two written pleas to take action to prevent the state’s port industry from losing more market share. While the writers agree something must be done to stop the flow of business to ports on the East and Gulf coasts, they do not entirely agree on the causes of the loss. 

Fifty-two organizations led by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA) sent a letter to Newsom on Monday that said, in part, that importers began taking their business...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ilwu:-dont-blame-labor-for-ports-market-share-drop

From Assembly Bill 5 to COVID-19

A West Virginia senator got up to speed on a boatload of issues important to California ports and truckers in a video meeting hosted by the Harbor Trucking Association (HTA) this week.

Although she represents West Virginia, Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito casts votes that impact West Coast ports and intermodal providers as a member of the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works, Commerce, Science & Transportation, and Appropriations committees.

Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/from-assembly-bill-5-to-covid-19

Coronavirus bill contains win for maritime industry

Seafarers fear for their jobs as McCain and others fight to trash Jones Act. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Billy Birdwell.

It took a pandemic for Congress to finally make a long-sought change to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) that would allow the full amount of deposits to the fund to be used to finance dredging of coastal and inland harbors and ports.

The change is tucked inside the expansive $2 trillion emergency aid bill passed by Congress two weeks ago to help the nation respond to the coronavirus outbreak.

Known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES), the legislation provides...

https://www.workboat.com/news/coastal-inland-waterways/coronavirus-bill-contains-win-for-maritime-industry/

Trump signs spending bills with big increases for waterways and maritime programs

A tow at Locks 27 on the Mississippi River near St. Louis. USACE photo.

President Trump signed into law two massive spending bills on Dec. 20 that include healthy budgets for ongoing inland waterways construction and maintenance as well as port dredging and investment, while also signing a defense bill that supports shipyard grants and would ease the transition from military to mariner jobs.

The legislative action on 12 spending bills, coming just days after the president’s impeachment vote in the House, avoided a government shutdown over the holidays that would...

https://www.workboat.com/news/coastal-inland-waterways/trump-signs-spending-bills-with-big-increases-for-waterways-and-maritime-programs/