Huge Funding Increase Coming for US Ports

The new Water Resources Development Act will require all harbor maintenance taxes to be spent on harbors, potentially doubling available funding by 2025

A compromise in the new Water Resources Reform Development Act will require the federal government to spend all harbor maintenance taxes — a 0.125% levy on imported containers — on dredging and jetty maintenance by fiscal 2025, sources told the Journal of Commerce. Currently, about $900 million of the taxes collected go back to ports for the maintenance of their harbor depths and jetties, while another $900 million is diverted to help plug the federal budget deficit.

In addition, some ports will have the ability to use HMT funds, which normally total more than $100 per container, for non-dredging purposes, a goal they have sought for years.

Once ports’ dredging and jetty work are funded, additional dollars can be used for adjacent berth construction and disposing of dredge spoils.

(more on port-funding boom . . . )

Latest