Everyone who is anyone in the political arena has seized on the need for job growth as a platform, from candidates for local municipal seats all the way to President Obama, who presently is imploring the nation to “Win the Future.” But taking a look at the president’s budget for 2012, it’s clear to those of us in the maritime community that our nation will miss the boat toward any future win without a significant change in course when it comes to funding our seaports. There’s a disconnect here between rhetoric and reality that needs be corrected and soon. To be fair, seaports have never been especially high on the federal government’s list of visionary investments. For some reason, it has rarely resonated with our leadership that the roots of this nation are firmly grounded in seafaring and our economy is inescapably linked to our waterways and international trade. Perhaps that’s because spending money on modernising docks and equipment, maintaining the nation’s waterways and digging deeper to accommodate today’s larger ships seems like so much housekeeping. Certainly, on the surface, it doesn’t sound as forward thinking as spending USD53 billion on a high-speed rail system. Or perhaps it’s because the individual lawmaker’s constituent, the average American consumer, gives little thought to how products move to the shelf at their local supercenter or mega grocery or mom and pop; how the item we need is ready for purchase as we dash in to grab that container of coffee or computer part or whatever necessity of modern life is absolutely essential at that very moment. And on top of it all, we select from an assortment of products, price points and bells and whistles; so much variety— delivered daily courtesy of the nation’s seaports— that it staggers the mind. We are so accustomed to our reliable delivery system for goods that we take it for granted. I shudder to think of the outcry should our consumer products get stuck on the docks because we no longer have the infrastructure to move them. But despite the stepchild status typically afforded ports, the fact is, with proper strategic investment now, our national recovery will come by sea. Every dollar invested in port facilities returns seven-fold. More than 90 percent of all US cargo, imports and exports, is carried by ship. Are we really going to beef up domestic manufacturing and increase export volumes in the next decade, another one of this administration’s priorities?
How will we move it to the rest of the world without investing significantly in ports?
Today, 13 million Americans work in positions related to international trade and that trade accounts for more than a quarter of the US GDP. If you want to really talk job growth, consider this: the US Department of Transportation projects that between 2001 and 2020 total freight moved through our ports will increase by more than 50 percent and the volume of international container traffic will at least double. Many of our nation’s most critical port projects—and the new jobs these improvements guarantee–are stuck in neutral because of inefficient and overlapping bureaucracy and lack of commitment from both our president and congressional leaders. Our nation’s reputation will based on whether or not we improve our gateways to the world. Port progress is everyone’s business. It’s time to correct the disconnect.
Former Federal Maritime Administration Commissioner Paul Anderson joined the Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) as Chief Executive Officer in January 2011 after holding a series of high-profile leadership positions in the public and private sectors over the last three decades. The JAXPORT Board of Directors unanimously approved his hiring for the independent agency’s top position in late 2010. Nominated to the Federal Maritime Commission by President George W. Bush in 2003, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2004, Mr. Anderson served a five-year term ending in 2008. In addition, the president designated Anderson as the Commission’s Chairman.
During his tenure, Anderson voted on issues affecting the trillion-dollar international maritime industry and represented the Commission before Congress, maritime industry associations and major corporate leadership. A highlight of Anderson’s service included his appointment to the Committee on Marine Transportation, a cabinet-level strategy group responsible for the nation’s seaports and reporting directly to the president. Most recently, Mr. Anderson was responsible for providing industry recommendations on legislative issues to the Ranking Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee at the U.S. House of Representatives where he served as a Senior Fellow. He was president of International Oil and Shipping Company of Boca Raton, Florida, between 2008 and 2010 following his service on the Federal Maritime Commission. Anderson spent 10 years with JM Family Enterprises, a diversified automobile business headquartered in Deerfield Beach, Florida, and was previously a senior director of Seabulk Marine, Inc, an international marine transportation company in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He has also served as an advisor on intermodal issues to former Florida governors Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist. Anderson has also held numerous community leadership positions including Chair, Board of Trustees, Broward County (FL) Community College; Chair, Broward Alliance; Chair, Broward Health Foundation; Vice President, Board of Trustees, Leukemia Lymphoma Society; Board of Directors, Florida Tax Watch; and the Board of Directors, Public Affairs Council.