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The American Society of Civil Engineers last week released a report that details the degree of work that needs to be done on the nation’s outdated ports and inland waterways. And, the numbers are significant.
The report says – simply deepening major harbors and waterways in preparation for the big panemax ships that are too big for many shallow harbors will take $30-billion by 2020. That’s more than double what is being spent today.
The report says 300 commercial ports need work. In addition, lock and dam improvements on some 12,000 miles of inland waterways have been put on hold for years as Congress dithers.
The argument should be an easy one, given that $42.2 trillion in goods passed through U.S. ports in 2010, but given the anti-spending rhetoric in Washington these days, little is expected from this Congress.
