From blog.gulflive.com: By the end of the year, Port of Pascagoula officials should have a new strategic plan in hand to take them through the next 20 years, leaders said Tuesday after a regular Board of Commissioners meeting.

Lori Baer, from AECOM’s Sunrise, Fla., office, attended the meeting to update commissioners on the firm’s progress on the plan, which leaders say should position the port to remain competitive in a changing maritime industry.

From a June 25, 2010 statement: “Today I am pleased to introduce legislation that would fully repeal the Jones Act, a 1920s law that hinders free trade and favors labor unions over consumers. Specifically, the Jones Act requires that all goods shipped between waterborne ports of the United States be carried by vessels built [...]

From maritimejournal.com: With 101 proposals received by the call deadline, the third Marco Polo II call has attracted a record number of submissions, with over one third addressing short sea shipping.

The number of applicants beat all previous calls launched since 2007 (70 proposals received in 2009, 46 in 2008 and 55 in 2007). Altogether, the funding requests arising from the 101 project proposals amount to €235 million this year, against an annual programme budget of €64 million.

From nebusiness.co.uk: Teesport will welcome its second new container shipping service in as many months, as it prepares for the announcement of what are expected to be record volumes when official traffic statistics are released on June 10.

Northern European short sea shipping company Unifeeder said it was launching three new services to the UK from next month, including Teesport.

From englandsnorthwest.com: A new scheme that will see a £400 million port constructed in Salford has been given the go-ahead.

The facility, which will provide five container berths for cargo ships, is likely to create as many as 2,000 jobs and will reduce the amount of freight on the northwest’s roads by doubling traffic on the Manchester Ship Canal.

It is to be constructed by Peel Group and property director Mike Butterworth said he is thrilled with the approval of the plans.

“Port Salford will bring together rail, road and short sea shipping together in a unique development alongside Manchester Ship Canal,” he added.

…But what about the slowing global market?

First the good news: According to a recent report, import volume at the nation’s major container ports will be up 25% (or more) in the first half of 2010. Last month saw an estimated 17% jump in TEUs in U.S. ports; this month is projected to have a 30% increase — and according to some people the future looks even better:

“This forecast assumes that we are not in a double-dip recession and that a recovery is underway. Although 2009 saw decreased import activity levels, the forecast for 2010 points towards growth,” says Ben Hackett, founder of Hackett Associates, which performed the analysis along with the National Retail Federation.

It’s quite a list: Port Manatee. The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority. The New Haven Port Authority. The Port of Providence. Quonset Business Park. The Port of New Bedford. And it goes on and on.

Nearly 100 ports across the United States applied for federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants this summer. In all they asked for $3.38 billion — which is more than twice the amount of money in the entire funding program. [Read the full story to download an applicant analysis.] That type of competition can’t be good for the emerging Marine Highway program, right?

Not so fast, says Stephen Pepper, president of Humboldt Maritime Logistics. “All of these separate projects are in different regions, but they provide the mechanism for communities to define their own Marine Highway goals,” he says. [...]

Jeff Berman at Logistics Management has a great story on American Association of Port Authorities President and Chief Executive Officer Kurt Nagle and his push to keep improved freight mobility, including port access, a top legislative priority next year.
In a letter to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar, Nagle wrote that, “AAPA urges you to prioritize policies and programs to improve the facilitation of goods movement in our transportation system. U.S. public port authorities provide a critical linkage in the freight network – connecting international shipping lanes with the U.S. highway system and providing intermodal connectors between water, rail and trucks. On average, each of our 50 states relies on 13 to 15 ports to handle its imports and exports, which total more than $1.3 billion worth of goods moving in and out of U.S. ports every day.” [...]

Think you have headaches? It could be worse. You could be stuck in the middle of three-state battle over infrastructure and shipping problems with the Bayonne Bridge (pictured), which spans part of Newark Bay in New York state.
“Sitting in the front row at Port Industry Day, held in New York in the auditorium aboard Intrepid, my head began to ache from the sheer complexity of solving infrastructure problems, on a grand scale. Indeed, Surface Transport funding, now expired, has been extended on a month-to-month basis.”[...]

Earlier this month, John Kostrzewa was walking along a new bike path alongside the Quonset Business Park in Rhode Island. It got him thinking about the past and its failed economic dreams for the park, including a contentious plan to build a deepwater cargo container port. And then he started thinking about the future.
“Quonset can fulfill its potential by forging a stronger link between Rhode Island and the world’s economy,” he wrote in a column for the The Providence Journal newspaper. “The tighter the connection between Rhode Island and out-of-state markets, the better chance for the state and its residents to prosper.
“[One] idea being promoted by the federal government is short-sea shipping [...]