Cargo Business Newswire

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Port of Long Beach commissioners support national freight policy

On Monday, Port of Long Beach harbor leaders unanimously voted to support a national freight policy, with an eye toward luring federal funding dollars for port infrastructure projects.

Monday's vote follows a November report issued by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation, which recommends establishing a national freight transportation policy and creating and finding sustainable funding for projects. The White House has requested a budget of $91 million for transportation projects.

"This is the right direction for us to head into today," said Commissioner Rich Dines. "We need to immediately start focusing on surface transportation and we need to make the issues that we support very clear and present them to our Congress so they know where the Port of Long Beach needs to go."

Supporting the policy will allow the port to weigh in on freight needs at a time when Congress is starting to draft legislation on surface transportation issues, according to a staff report.

Regarding the policy recommendation to create a grant program for regional and national freight projects, for example, the Port of Long Beach will recommend that Congress implement "a merit-based, competitive grant program to fund multimodal freight projects" and innovative financing options.

"I hope that by presenting policies such as this and showing our endorsement that Congress will find a way to identify a source of funds that will make these projects actually come to be," said Commissioner Susan E. Anderson Wise.

For more of the Press-Telegram story: presstelegram.com