The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) applauds a proposal being considered before Congress which would give state and local governments the flexibility to allocate COVID relief to America’s seaports. This flexibility is included in the recently released State and Local Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Funds being considered by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as Congress undertakes overall budget reconciliation efforts.
As proposed, these recovery funds could be used to “respond to or mitigate the public health emergency with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic or its negative economic impacts, cover costs incurred as a result of [the COVID-19 pandemic or its impacts], replace lost revenue that was lost, delayed, or decreased as a result of [the COVID-19 pandemic], or address the negative economic impacts of [the COVID-19 pandemic].”
AAPA’s Chairman Mario Cordero testified before Congress earlier this week regarding the need for emergency relief citing the impact of COVID on the nation’s ports. “The COVID-19 pandemic caused 2020 to be one of the most erratic and volatile years in terms of container volumes. By the end of the year, total waterborne trade volume was down 4.8% compared to the prior year – and the value of that trade dropped by 11.3% totaling nearly $200 billion,” Cordero stated, “and Harbor Maintenance Tax revenue, a measure of total business flowing through our nation’s ports, decreased 18%.”
