"Can the barriers be removed? Without a doubt. But we're still making infrastructure investments at the same rate we did 40-plus years ago" when the economy was much smaller and trade flows were lower, said Jimmy Crabbe, vice president of global ocean freight services for UPS.
Chief Executive Scott Davis is a member of the President's Export Council, which aims to drive U.S. business by doubling exports to more than $3 trillion in 2015.
UPS, the largest package delivery company, already moves goods equivalent to about 6 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product and 2 percent of global GDP in its trucks and planes.
More exports means more shipping opportunity for UPS as well as its smaller rival FedEx Corp.
"Manufacturing goods is only half the story. We've got to be able to get them to the market, wherever that market is," said Atlanta-based Crabbe.
"Clearly as a nation we want that market to be overseas ... and if we want to get products to that market in a cost and time-efficient manner in order to compete with other countries, then we need to make those infrastructure investments."
The American Society of Civil Engineers 2009 report card for America's overall infrastructure gave it a Grade D and estimated a needed $2.2 trillion total five-year investment.
The House of Representatives Transportation Committee is rolling out a six-year blueprint of about $210 billion funding for roads, highways and bridges. The Senate is expected soon to take up a $339 billion authorization.
President Barack Obama had proposed in February spending $556 billion over the six years, the largest transportation plan in U.S. history.
There is concern the system may not be able to support the targeted export growth.
The air traffic control system is outdated, one-third of U.S. roads are in poor or mediocre condition, about a quarter of bridges are structurally deficient and most ports need attention, Crabbe said, citing various studies.
Imbalances
Exports in the first quarter have already risen 21 percent from the second quarter of 2009, at recession's end, said Steve Blitz, senior economist at ITG Investment Research.
"There's growing demand for U.S. product," he said. "More importantly, U.S. policy is focused on supporting demand for U.S. product overseas, and foreign demand for U.S. product has been and will continue to be an increasingly important source of growth."
Government infrastructure spending creates jobs, so it usually gets broad support, he said. The degree of funding this go-round will hinge on the debt ceiling debate.
"To the extent you have a subpar infrastructure, it's going to prevent the ability to get stuff to where it needs to go, and that's a problem," Blitz said.
There are now few capacity constraints. Transportation companies are bringing back containers, trucks and railcars they sidelined in the recession, to handle higher volume.
CSX Corp , for example, expects growing demand from China, India and Brazil to boost the coal it moves on its rail lines to ports for export will jump to 40 million tons in 2011 from 30 million last year and 12 million tons five years ago.
UPS does not report its profit from export. But it said its daily deliveries averaged about 2.3 million packages internationally and 12.7 million domestically in the first quarter.
Generally, Crabbe said vessels often come to the United States full. But as many as two of three containers on trans-Pacific westbound routes return empty.
"For sure, the biggest imbalance we see is between Asia and the U.S," he said. "There's no way to say exactly how much of the exports issue can be attributed to infrastructure versus demand for U.S. products, but we can say that infrastructure is definitely a major issue and conc
