In collaboration with the US Department of Transportation Maritime Administration, financial advising group PFM, ,and a variety of port industry experts, the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) has launched a Port Planning and Investment Toolkit (PPIT) to help US port authorities plan and pay for its seaport infrastructure projects.
The guide is the first module of PPIT, which is an ongoing initiative to help US seaports obtain funding for a range of projects, including freight transportation and other port-related improvement projects, according to Dredging News Online.
The aim of future toolkit modules includes further assisting ports identify their future needs. This will be done by developing capital plans.
The AAPA plan to determine the most sustainable, cost-effective and efficient solutions to port challenges, as well as help to place port projects strategically for federal funding, including eligibility for Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery grants.
Kurt Nagle, AAPA’s president and CEO said: “Many ports struggle to attract public and private capital for infrastructure projects, in part because there’s no go-to resource detailing how to describe and justify investment needs. PPIT is that resource.”
He concluded by saying that ports will be able to look to the future by using the guide to assess a range of financing opportunities.
