MARAD awards 31 port projects $580M in new PIDP grants

The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) today announced plans to invest nearly $580 million in Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) grants to fund 31 port improvement projects in 15 states and one U.S. territory. The funding, which is slightly lower than last year’s $653 million in PIDP grants is intended to help increase both capacity and efficiency at coastal seaports, Great Lakes ports, and inland river ports.

“America’s ports are essential to our nation’s supply chains, and thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration, we have projects underway all across the country—from Long Beach to Milwaukee to Monroe—that are making it possible for our ports to move more goods each year and keep costs down for families,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. “With the investments we’re announcing today, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’re building on this good work and funding more projects that will expand capacity, improve efficiency, and facilitate the quicker movement of goods at ports in more than a dozen states.”

Select PIDP grants include:

Don Young Port of Alaska’s Cargo 1 Replacement Project ($50,000,000)

Anchorage, Alaska

The project will fund construction of a new general purpose cargo terminal at the Don Young Port of Alaska, which is essential to delivering goods to remote communities across the state. Work funded by the grant includes demolition of the existing terminal, construction of the trestle and wharf structure, and related landside facilities and utilities. The project will improve port efficiency and reliability by eliminating weight and operational limits placed on the current facility. The project improves resilience to both natural and man-made disasters by improving seismic stability, mitigating sea level rise and ice impacts, and supporting cargo movements at a strategic seaport.

Port of Oakland’s Outer Harbor Terminal Infrastructure Modernization Project ($49,517,100)

Oakland, California 

The project includes wharf strengthening and other structural repairs including crane girder upgrades, added piling, beam strengthening, crane rail replacement, removing and replacing the old electrical bus bar system, and pavement overlay at Berths 24-26 within the Outer Harbor Terminal. The project addresses efficiency at the facility by allowing the port to host larger vessels at the same time to better respond to market demand on the west coast.

Georgia Ports Authority (GPA)’s Garden City Terminal Power Resiliency Project ($49,886,096)

Garden City, Georgia

The project will eliminate the need for the Port of Savannah’s Garden City Terminal to draw electric power from local sources by creating a self-contained, on-terminal power distribution network fed from dedicated, GPA-owned substations. It also will construct redundant power feeds and backup power generation systems, replace overhead power lines with an underground network, and build a new GPA-owned substation to provide resiliency and increase the capacity of available electric power.

Hennepin Barge Terminal and Soybean Logistics Asset Project ($38,582,711)

Hennepin, Illinois

The project will build a new, roughly 700-foot loading dock, conveyor systems, and storage systems for soybean meal, soybean oil, and soybean hulls to more efficiently move these agricultural products.

Quonset Development Corporation’s Gateway Upgrades for Access, Resilience, and Development at the Port of Davisville Project ($11,250,000)

Davisville, Rhode Island

The project will relocate a port access roadway and port entrance gate, relocate and improve port operations buildings, construct new and expanded upland cargo laydown areas to allow for transport of large cargoes including offshore wind components, and install lighting, cameras, fencing, gates, and other security assets.

The Lummi Nation Fisherman’s Cove Dock Replacement Project ($10,979,375)

Bellingham, Washington

This project will fund the demolition and replacement of a pier at the Fisherman’s Cove Marina Dock at Gooseberry Point Waterfront on the Lummi Indian Reservation in Bellingham, Washington. The project will also include purchase of an electric lift and four Davit cranes.

• View full list of awarded PIDP projects HERE

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