Report: U.S. port infrastructure ranks 23rd in world
The United States, the number one global economic market, ranks 23rd for port infrastructure behind countries that include Namibia, Barbados and Estonia, according to the World Economic Forum.
The WEF’s Global Competiveness Report for 2011-2012 is based upon 12 “pillars of competitiveness” that includes infrastructure, where the U.S. came in 24th for “quality of overall infrastructure,” 31st for air transport, in addition to 20th for roads and railroads.
Singapore took the top port infrastructure spot, with the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Belgium and Panama rounding out the top five.
The U.S dropped a spot from the previous year’s competitiveness report.
According to statistics published in an infrastructure report by Building America’s Future Educational Fund, a coalition co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former governors Ed Rendell and Arnold Schwarzenegger, current U.S. transportation investments represent 1.7 percent of total gross domestic product.
"As Congress stands idly by, our competitors around the world are racing ahead – especially when it comes to building modern transportation networks. Washington needs to get into gear transforming our infrastructure or else our economy will be stalling out for decades to come," said Mayor Bloomberg in a statement.
At a recent infrastructure policy forum held in Jacksonville, Florida, former Pennsylvania Governor Rendell addressed the WEF report, saying “the [U.S.] is living off investments made several generations ago and has not reinvested in the systems needed to ensure that future generations can compete in a global market.”
Fmr. Governor Rendell has publically advocated long-term U.S. infrastructure investment of at least $200 billion a year.
For the link to page the full PDF of the WEF Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012: www.weforum.org
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