A project underway at the Panama Canal to expand it so that ships three times the current size fit through could mean big business for some East Coast ports. Ports wanting to take advantage are seeking merchant advance funding from the federal government to dredge their ports to make them deep enough for these larger ships to dock. Right now, only the Norfolk, Virginia, port is deep enough to accept the larger sized ships, although the Savannah, Georgia, port is already taking ships loaded at half capacity. The expansion of the Panama Canal, due to be completed in 2014, is expected to bring much more commerce to the East Coast of the United States for those ports that can accommodate the larger ships.
Larger Ships Mean More Goods
The large ships mean more goods will both come in and out of the East Coast making it ideal for new manufacturing plants or truck companies. Owning a business in the area and exporting and importing will not only get easier, but cheaper, too. For ports that can locate funding to increase the depth of the docking areas, it can mean a lot more jobs in the area as ships need to be loaded and unloaded. That’s why all the ports up and down the East Coast are competing heavily for whatever federal funding they can get to be one of the ports able to accept these ships.
Funds Difficult to Get
Many ports could make the necessary modifications but it would cost several billion dollars. For the New York that hasn’t stopped it and it has a project underway to deepen its port to 50 feet, which is going to cost $2.3 billion. For other ports looking to the federal government to subsidize the modifications, they may have a long time to wait. Dredging projects are typically included in budgets as earmarks, something the current administration does not want to fund due to the political fallout.