American Association of Port Authorities | 13
frastructure, including maintaining the TI-
GER infrastructure grants program. Finally,
Congress must reauthorize and provide ad-
equate funding for the Port Security Grant
Program and environmental programs such
as the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act that
provides grants that ports use to lower emis-
sions from trucks, trains, ships and other
“transient” sources.
On another front, new trade agreements
with Korea, Panama and Colombia were
recently approved, while other trade agree-
ments are being negotiated. Trade agree-
ments such as these should be encouraged
because they result in more U.S.-made prod-
ucts being sold overseas, more goods moving
across port docks to fuel our economy, and
more jobs being created to handle all those
goods. As our nation recovers from its eco-
nomic troubles, cargo volumes will continue
to grow. As our nation invests in transpor-
tation infrastructure, we must ensure that
our ports and their needs to efficiently move
freight are high on the list.
Today, we face enormous challenges and
ports are making the necessary investments
to build and maintain a world-class mari-
time transportation system, which supports
U.S. jobs, our global competitiveness, and
our economy. We need our federal partner
to make that commitment, too.
Because seaports deliver prosperity, we
urge you to serve as advocates for port infra-
structure so that America’s ports can meet
the challenges for today and tomorrow.
