Port and Inland Waterways Modernization: Options for the Future

The Panama Canal expansion will almost triple the size of container vessels able to transit the canal. How will this effect trade to the US, especially along the east and Gulf coasts? To understand this impact, we must first understand the existing condition of our port, inland waterway and intermodal infrastructure. Once we have a clear picture of the current condition and capacity of our waterway infrastructure, port and inland modernization needs can be described and a strategy developed to move forward.

Congress has directed the Institute for Water Resources to submit to the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations a report on how the Congress should address the critical need for additional port and inland waterway modernization to accommodate post-Panamax vessels. The US Port and Inland Waterways Modernization Strategy will develop a vision for meeting the needs for US port and inland waterway modernization and propose a high-level strategy to implement that vision. The study will rely on existing data, reports, and studies as well as conduct original research. The study report will highlight issues, provide information, data, opinion, and options; it will not make any recommendations.

Congress has asked the study authors to consider the following factors:

• costs associated with deepening and widening deep-draft harbors
• ability of the waterways and ports to enhance the nation's export initiatives benefiting the agricultural and manufacturing sectors
• current and projected population trends that distinguish regional ports and ports that are immediately adjacent to population centers
• availability of inland intermodal access
• environmental impacts resulting from the modernization of inland waterways and deep-draft ports

Comparison Between Panamax and Post-Panamax Container Vessels. Courtesy of the Panama Canal Authority.

Strategy

Upon the enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012 on December 23rd 2011, USACE Headquarters began working with IWR on scoping the U.S. Port and Inland Waterways Modernization Strategy. The strategy will explore the impacts of the Panama Canal expansion to accommodate larger “post-Panamax” ships on future marine transportation system needs. The strategy development process will incorporate the perspectives of shippers, carriers, ports, environmental interests, state and federal agencies, and other interested parties. Because of the six-month time frame directed by Congress, the study will rely heavily on existing data, reports and studies and leveraging other ongoing assessment studies.

The study will survey existing conditions, review the drivers of and uncertainties surrounding the future demand for international trade; forecast the macro makeup of the future ocean fleet; evaluate the regional environmental footprints of navigation modernization, and address elements of benefits estimation and implication of modernization costs to the USACE Civil Works budget and for Federal investment more generally. The study will also review future options for financing and considerations of modernization within the context of the Nation’s overall intermodal transportation system. Although the strategy will articulate options for potential Congressional actions for modernization, its focus will remain at a strategic level and will not identify specific project priorities for ports or waterways.

In order to provide strategies, study authors must ask these and other questions: What barriers exist, institutional or otherwise, that will constrain the future development of ports? Should US port expansion and inland waterway development be prioritized to enhance exports? Can the Nation's inland navigation system handle the increase in US exports from the interior that are likely to result from the Panama Canal expansion? What are current industry operating practices?

To contact the study authors with input and information related to these questions please contact Hal Cardwell, Communications and Public Engagement Lead.

Study Products

The study will produce a strategy for meeting the nation’s critical needs for port and inland waterway modernization. The study will explore the impacts of the Panama Canal expansion on each facet of the navigation industry. It will rely on existing data, reports, and studies as well as conduct original research. A report will highlight issues, provide information, data, opinion and options; it will not make any recommendations.

Schedule

Opportunities for Input

Because of the broad stakeholder interest in the strategy, IWR is conducting the investigation and communicating the findings in a transparent and accessible manner. Due to the compressed time frame of the strategy development process, USACE aims to leverage outreach activities already conducted and currently planned under the Department of Transportation's ongoing Panama Canal Expansion Study. As the study progresses, this website will include study updates, report outlines, and draft report sections. Peer-to-peer feedback is welcome - and the study team will be accepting information and feedback through April 18 for consideration in initial drafts of the document, followed by reviews of the work by the Executive Branch, and ultimately transmittal to the Committees in June 2012.

The first draft is posted and shows the direction the report authors are taking. The second draft incorporates feedback and input from stakeholders and includes additional information.

Note: The second draft of the report is currently undergoing review by USACE Headquarters, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army, and Office of Management and Budget. IWR hopes to receive comments by end of May in order to release the next draft for public review prior to the deadline for submitting the final report to Congress in June.

Working Draft Report - Version 1 (pdf, 1.77 MB)

Congressional Direction

Conference language from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012 (H.R. 2055): Within the funds provided, the Institute for Water Resources is directed to submit to the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations within 180 days of enactment of this Act, a report on how the Congress should address the critical need for additional port and inland waterway modernization to accommodate post-Panamax vessels. This study will not impede nor delay port or inland waterway projects already authorized by Congress. Factors for consideration should include costs associated with deepening and widening deep-draft harbors; the ability of the waterways and ports to enhance the nation's export initiatives benefiting the agricultural and manufacturing sectors; the current and projected population trends that distinguish regional ports and ports that are immediately adjacent to population centers; the availability of inland intermodal access; and the environmental impacts resulting from the modernization of inland waterways and deep-draft ports.