WASHINGTON: U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Fox has announced 40 awards totaling nearly $500 million in funding for the FY 2016 Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants. Of the 585 applications submitted totaling $9.3 billion in requests, six awards totaling $61.8 million – or about 12.36 percent of the total funding – are going to commercial seaports or projects that directly aid the efficient movement of goods to and from America’s ports.
Port applications totaled nine percent, or 53, of the total 585 submitted. American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) President and CEO Kurt Nagle said that AAPA believes it’s important for America’s seaports to be key components of the TIGER discretionary grants program because of the critical role ports play in moving goods, sustaining jobs and bolstering the nation’s economy. He noted that direct funding for maritime infrastructure projects, including connections to ports, will improve freight mobility which helps reduce transportation costs and makes U.S. exports more attractive to overseas buyers.
“TIGER grants are one of the few federal funding programs available to public port authorities to help them pay for critical infrastructure to move and handle freight more efficiently,” said Nagle. “We’re pleased that a number of port projects were included in the eighth round of TIGER grants just announced, but this year’s grants included few funds for major maritime freight gateways.” He added, “It’s important that projects from the full range of port sizes and types receive grant awards in upcoming rounds of TIGER funding.”
AAPA has been a strong supporter of the TIGER grant program. In TIGER’s first round in fiscal 2009, port-related infrastructure projects received about 8.6 percent of the original $1.5 billion allocated. In subsequent rounds, port-related infrastructure did better, garnering 14.6 percent (of the total $600 million) in the second, 12.8 percent (of the total $527 million) in the third, 13.6 percent (of the total $500 million) in the fourth,13.3 percent (of the total $474 million) in the fifth, 12.4 percent (of the total $600 million) in the sixth, and nine percent (of the total $500 million) in the seventh.
