VARIOUS ports, including Charleston and Savannah, are set to gain from US President Barack Obama's fiscal 2016 budget request, but his request for overall port funding falls far short of the targets set by legislation he signed six months ago.
President Obama last year signed legislation to increase funds going to ports through the Harbour Maintenance Tax (HMT). But his proposed budget cuts back on that.
This comes after Congress's fiscal 2015 spending bill came up US$66 million short of the Water Resources Reform Development Act's (WRRDA) first annual target.
Congress could increase the spending levels to meet the target set by the WRRDA for fiscal 2016, but the White House budget sends an ominous sign for future port funding, said Newark's Journal of Commerce.
Through Obama's budget, ports would receive only $915 million for maintenance dredging and other work, $1 billion less than they are set to receive in fiscal 2015, which ends September 30. However, WRRDA calls for US ports to receive $1.32 billion back from the government in fiscal 2016.
The law calls for the federal government to increasingly give back a larger share of collected HMT - a 0.0125 per cent levy on the value of import cargo - until all collected revenue is sent back to ports in fiscal 2025.
American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) president Kurt Nagle said he was "deeply troubled by the proposed cuts to maintenance and modernisation of federal navigation channels, the critical waterside infrastructure that connect our ports and nation to the world marketplace".
PORTS
08 February 2015 - 22:21
Obama's wish-list budget plan would reduce funding for US ports
VARIOUS ports, including Charleston and Savannah, are set to gain from US President Barack Obama's fiscal 2016 budget request, but his request for overall port funding falls far short of the targets set by legislation he signed six months ago.
PORTS
08 February 2015 - 22:21
Obama's wish-list budget plan would reduce funding for US ports
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