New England’s ports need to expand

Pressure throughout the supply chain could force secondary ports to play major roles.

A new reality is setting in among port and public officials in the Northeast: expansion needs to happen. Expansion isn’t something that’s been talked about much in the Northeast, as years of dwindling results have sapped interest in the port sector. But from Albany, New York to Portland, Maine, and all the many port calls in between, it’s clear that very shortly the region’s stressed supply chains will have to be addressed, starting at the pier head. Driving Forward The Port of Davisville, Rhode Island, is a good example of the importance of a niche port to the region’s supply chain. The Quonset Development Corporation (QDC) runs the 3,207-acre industrial park and leases space to nearly 175 companies. Over the past few years some $100 million in Federal Funds (mostly TIGER Grants) have been used to upgrade the rail lines, roads, bridges and piers. Among them is North Atlantic Distribution (NORAD), which is a vehicle processor. With NORAD the Port of Davisville, has become one of the top ten auto ports in the country. Last year the 150-acre facility had 173,295 vehicles arrive via ship and another 33,497 cars arrived by rail (the port has on the dock rail). On March 14th NORAD set a single day record, importing 4,266 vehicles. The auto manufacturers using the port include top end automakers like Volkswagen, Subaru, Porsche, Ford and Bentley. Last year was the fourth consecutive record-breaking year for the vehicle processor. Additionally, 1,185 tons of project cargo moved over the facility. A mobile crane was added last year. Business is continuing to grow for the port as last week the first shipment of Hondas arrived at the facility. In April 2013, Honda announced it would ship 25,000 cars through the port this year. Port Reorganization in Connecticut? In neighboring Connecticut, the three ports, New Haven, New London and Bridgeport, in recent years, have been under performing, and there are moves afoot to try and reorganize the ports on the State level. According to reports, two pieces of legislation linked to proposals submitted by State Rep. Gail Lavielle (R- Wilton, Norwalk, Westport) cleared the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee that would lead to a reorganization of the ports administration. One article of legislation would amend the Connecticut State Constitution limiting the use of moneys contained in the Special Transportation Fund to transportation-related projects. The other article would create a statewide Port Authority to develop, promote, and manage Connecticut’s three deep-water ports in Bridgeport, New Haven and New London. At the moment, of the three ports, only New London is ready for any new business as the channel is dredged for the submarine base. Connecticut is also investing $8 million in infrastructure funds to the State’s freight railways. The funds will go to four railroads: • New England Central Railroad - $3,579,230 to upgrade their mainline track between New London and the Connecticut/Massachusetts state line to accommodate 286,000-pound rail cars. • Providence and Worcester Railroad - $759,395 to rehabilitate 26 miles of the Norwich branch line between Plainfield and the Massachusetts state line • Naugatuck Railroad - $1,649,936 on the state-owned Torrington Line between Waterbury and Torrington • Central New England Railroad - $2,464,300 for track and grade crossing signal infrastructure improvements installed between Hartford and Bloomfield on the state-owned Griffin Line. The State annually handles 8.5 million tons of freight over the 625-miles of rail and the investment in the infrastructure would help shift freight from road to rail as well as attract additional private sector investment. Port of Albany’s location The Port of Albany, New York anchors an interesting position in the Northeast. The city has long been straddled as an East-West rail link between New England and the Midwest. The Hudson River flows south some 150-miles, connecting Albany, not only to the sea but to the New York City metropolitan area. Most of the freight flowing through the port is neo-bulk/break bulk (scrap metals for Turkey) and some project (electrical components for Algeria), amounting to around 390,000 tons and sixty ship calls annually at the APDC (Albany Port District Commission facilities). The port’s been overhauling the facilities, including the Rensselaer Wharf project, and the APDC is also adding a mobile crane to their equipment. The $7.8 million Rensselaer Wharf project which began last year (located on the opposite side of the Hudson) will replace the old wooden wharf with a concrete structure, opening up the Port to more combinations of vessel loadings and increase cargo capacity. The Port was recently dubbed in the press as the “Houston of the Hudson” (see related article on page 7) as the flow of Bakken oil through the port amount’s to 20%-25% of the Bakken railroaded crude oil to the East Coast. The new traffic has been a boom to the port, although a moratorium on heating the crude oil and expansion of the oil business was declared by Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy last month. Northern New England Ports Pease Development Authority (PDA) [an independent state agency] in Portsmouth, New Hampshire has under its umbrella of transportation and other services Portsmouth International at Pease and the Division of Ports and Harbors. Pease Airport is one of the longest in the region extending over 11,000 feet and has US Custom & Border Patrol agents on site. The “Tradeport” industrial park on the grounds is over 3,000 acres with 4-million sq/ft of available space. Another 665,000 sq/ft is expected to be added over the next decade. The Port of Portsmouth is a Foreign Free Trade Zone (FTZ) on Market St. on the Piscataqua River. The shipping terminal has 600-ft berth with 35-foot draft alongside and another 312-foot pier with 22-ft draft alongside. The port mainly handles neo-bulks such as scrap, salt, wood chips along with some project cargo. The PDA currently leases space to International Salt, and Grimmel Industries handles the scrap metals. The Port of Portland, Maine, north of Portsmouth, is thinking about expansion. There is a proposal for a $5 million expansion of the International Marine Terminal, most importantly including new rail. The principle user of the facility is the Icelandic Eimskip Line. With nearly one year completed, Eimskip has handled more than 4,100 containers. The initial annual projection was to handle 5,000-containers, but there is a chance to do considerably more business if the rail lines can be extended. The problem is it requires another 18-acres of land and involves the cooperation of a number of parties. The adjacent land is under control of Phineas Sprague Jr. who originally secured the property for a marina. Sprague could shift over to another parcel of land 12-acres in size owned by Pan Am Railways.