What They Are Reading in the States: President Biden's Port and Waterways Action Plan Highlighted in Port Cities Across the Country

Following the announcement of the Biden-Harris Action Plan for America's Ports and Waterways, local media outlets in Savannah, Long Beach, Baltimore, Miami, and other key port cities reported on the local and regional significance of the plan.

The Biden-Harris plan is a concrete set of steps that will address our supply chain challenges, which we are seeing the impact of now with increasing prices for the American people, as a strong economic recovery meets an ongoing global pandemic and outdated infrastructure. It will increase federal flexibilities for port grants; accelerate port infrastructure grant awards; announce new construction projects for coastal navigation, inland waterways, and land ports of entry; and launch the first round of expanded port infrastructure grants funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.

See below for a sampling of the local coverage.

Savannah Morning News: Backlogged Savannah Port to see immediate relief funds from bipartisan infrastructure bill
[Zoe Nicholson, 11/10/21]

The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will soon become law, clearing the way for billions of dollars to provide much-needed relief for the nation's ports, which have been inundated under a pandemic-wrought buying spree and supply chain clog.

Funds from the bipartisan bill will be used to set up "pop-up container yards" to alleviate congestion at the Savannah Port, which has seen months of record-breaking volume come through its terminals.

The $8 million project will allow the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) to convert five properties in Georgia and North Carolina into temporary storage yards. "The effort will free up more dock space and speed goods flow in and out of the Port of Savannah, which leads the nation in containerized agricultural exports," a White House press release stated.

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The changes represent the first phases in a $17 billion package to address the infrastructure needs at America's ports.

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Long Beach Business Journal: White House unveils funding to ease supply chain crisis, with LA and Long Beach ports being a top priority
[11/9/21]

The Biden administration announced plans on Tuesday to identify and pay for possible upgrades to U.S. ports within the next 90 days in the hopes of ultimately tamping down the inflation being caused by ships waiting to dock and a shortage of truck drivers to haul goods. The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles specifically will be a top priority, a senior administration official told the Long Beach Business Journal.

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Senior administration officials said Tuesday that the Transportation Department would allow port authorities to redirect any leftover money from grant projects to address the supply chain issues. For example, the Georgia Ports Authority will use $8 million to convert its inland facilities for the port of Savannah into container yards, freeing up dock space and speeding the flow of goods to their final destinations.

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White House officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the forthcoming plans, which come on the heels of the House backing the bipartisan infrastructure package late Friday. The package includes $17 billion to improve coastal and land-based ports that can help to tackle the challenges in the longer term.

"If you look at where investment dollars can do more," a senior official told the Business Journal, "the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach stack up very well."

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Miami Herald (McClatchy): Biden administration's latest effort to ease supply chain congestion: pop-up ports
[Francesca Chambers, 11/9/21]

The Biden administration is working with shipping companies to launch pop-up ports to try and ease congestion at the nation's busiest seaports and get agricultural products to consumers faster.

Five pop-up ports will open in Georgia and North Carolina that are served by trucks or rail, the Transportation Department said on Tuesday.

The administration says it is hoping to open more pop-up sites in other areas soon. A pop-up site the administration says will be opening at the CSX Rocky Mount facility in North Carolina and four others opening in Georgia are intended to reduce the backlog at the Port of Savannah, one of the nation's busiest seaports.

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The Biden administration announced a plan Tuesday that allows the Georgia Ports Authority to redirect $8 million in previously allocated funds for the pop-up program that will result in containers being transferred to inland locations to free up dock space at the Port of Savannah.

The administration said it is working to open the pop-up sites immediately and expects they will be up and running in the next 30 to 45 days.

The four pop-up sites in Georgia will be in Atlanta, Savannah, Chatsworth and Statesboro, the Transportation Department said.

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Maryland Matters: Biden Heads to Bustling Port of Baltimore, as White House Focuses on Easing Supply Chain Problems
[Bruce DePuyt and Jacob Fischler, 11/10/21]

When President Biden visits the Port of Baltimore to promote the just-passed infrastructure bill on Wednesday, he will get an up-close view of one of the largest ports in the nation — one that is expanding rapidly as it races to compete with other East Coast facilities.

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The president is expected to highlight the "unprecedented" $17 billion to improve infrastructure at coastal ports, inland ports and waterways, and land ports of entry along the border, the White House said. Although Biden has yet to sign the measure, which Congress sent to his desk late last week, a senior administration official said Tuesday the government isn't waiting to take action.

"There's work going on right now to actually get these projects teed up," the official said on a background call with reporters Tuesday. Officials spoke on the condition they would not be named.

Port operators are planning to start many programs within 45 to 90 days through a variety of funding streams and policies the bill will provide, the official said.

The administration expects the Port of Savannah, the nation's third-busiest importer, to be the first to take advantage of a policy change allowing ports to redirect about $8 million in funding to immediately address supply chain challenges, the official said.

In the next three months, the administration will identify $3.4 billion in upgrades to inspection facilities at ports of entry handling international trade. The official said outdated customs inspection infrastructure "has clearly been a bottleneck."

In addition to the relatively short-term funding, the administration announced plans to help the long-term flow of goods from ports. The bill will provide $110 billion for roads and bridges that the White House said could be "smartly deployed" to ease supply chain congestion.

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WJCL (ABC Savannah): Supply Chain Solution: White House official says relief is coming to fix Port of Savannah bottleneck
[Nikiya Carrero, 11/10/21]

SAVANNAH, Ga. — WJCL spoke with a member of the Biden administration about a new task force designed to help fix the backlog at the Port of Savannah.

The task force is aimed at increasing the flow of goods in and out of the port, so people at home can receive their goods and packages on time.

"It's very good news here in Savannah, for Georgia overall and for the nation in fact, because it's a series of moves to systematically attack some of those bottlenecks," said John D. Porcari, a member of the Biden-Harris Administration Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force.

Porcari says the Biden administration is trying to clear up the headaches at the ports, including Savannah's.

"We're buying more goods because we're spending less discretionary income on restaurants and theaters, for example. And that has led to record amounts of both incoming and exporting container traffic," Porcari said.

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To tackle those issues, the White House announced a series of actions to ease congestion. One of them being pop-up ports.

"Where you can actually bring the containers by rail from the port but then they're taken by truck to other parts of the Country. These will be sites in Georgia and North Carolina," Porcari said.

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"Moving to more of 24/7 good supply chain, where the capacity of night use, whether it's the ports, the railroad, the trucking companies or the last mile distributors. Using that off-peak capacity is one of the proven ways to be more efficient," Porcari said.

He also told us relief with short and long-term projects is on the way.

"In the next 45 days more than $240 million nationally for modernizing ports and marine highways. In the next 60 days identifying with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers a number of waterside projects," Porcari said.

The White House also says there is $17 billion worth of port projects in the bipartisan infrastructure bill, a big chunk of it is coming to the Port of Savannah.

WJCL (ABC Savannah): Supply Chain Crisis: White House announces $8 million plan to fix backlog at the Port of Savannah

SAVANNAH, Ga. — The White House has announced plans it says will alleviate backlog and congestion at ports across the country, including the major backups seen in recent weeks at the Port of Savannah.

Recent weeks have seen major backlogs at the port, with dozens of ships docked off the coast waiting for their turn to unload.

On Thursday, the Biden administration announced plans for pop-up container yards in both Georgia and North Carolina, With the policy change, the Georgia Port Authority will be able to reallocate more than $8 million to convert existing inland facilities into the five pop-up container yards.

Under the plan, the Port of Savannah will transfer containers via rail and truck further inland so that they can be closer to their final destination, which will make available valuable real estate closer to the port. The effort will free up dock space and speed goods flow in and out of the Port of Savannah.

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