In Spring 2010, President Obama signed an Executive Order creating the National Export Initiative, which aims to double U.S. exports in five years. In rising to this goal, we need to ask ourselves if our aging infrastructure can support this.
U.S. infrastructure, in many cases, is operating beyond its design life. In meeting the challenge to double U.S. exports, let’s keep in mind that many U.S. exports tend to be heavy commodities, and they increasingly are containerized. Heavy boxes make for heavier ships, which require deeper harbors.
The expansion of the Panama Canal will require deeper harbors at East Coast ports. Ocean carriers will routinely deploy larger ships on the East Coast after the canal expansion, requiring deeper water. Savannah’s harbor deepening project will be the first of several needed at ports along the East Coast. And the East Coast is attracting more Asia all-water services, including South and Southeast Asia. So we will not only have bigger ships but also more of them.
Bigger and more ships translate into more trucks and rail, placing more strain on highways and railroads. We have to find a way to accommodate this activity that is not only efficient but also environmentally sustainable.
To do this, we must think in strategic terms. At stake in the quality of our infrastructure is our nation’s global competitiveness. Other countries are building world-class infrastructure. These countries realize that not only do individual companies compete with one another in the 21st century but so do entire supply chains. And the supply chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Strong infrastructure gives a country competitive advantages that convince private industry to invest, build and hire there. So let’s double our exports in the next five years while securing the infrastructure to not only support that, but also enable us to fully compete in an increasingly competitive global market.