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Port Planning and Investment Toolkit

In recent years, the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) member ports have emphasized their need for a go-to guide to plan, fund and execute critical repair and project upgrades. While the public largely remains unaware that ports receive and move out billions of dollars in goods today and will require the capacity to handle trillions of dollars worth of goods in the future, this topic is not new to port officials. These capabilities require costly investments and although ports have a history of entering public-private partnerships to operate their facilities, funding their modern intermodal freight projects is requiring the port industry to engage with a new, larger cast of public and private partners.

AAPA, together with the Maritime Administration (MARAD), recognizes the worries ports like yours face. In order to help solve these challenges, our organizations brought together experts from around the port industry to develop an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-execute Port Planning and Investment Toolkit to help you get to the point of bidding out a plan for the repairs and upgrades needed to handle the immense demands currently and in the future. 

The Port Planning and Investment Toolkit focuses on planning, funding and executing projects, with the goal of making navigating the best course of action to accomplish your goals easier and more user friendly than ever before. The new Marine Highway Projects Module of the Port Planning and Investment Toolkit provides an overview of America’s Marine Highway Program and how marine highway services can become designated projects by the U.S. Department of Transportation. It details how to plan a new marine highway service, determine feasibility and identify possible funding mechanisms. Learn more about the contents and purpose of the Marine Highway Projects Module in this webinar recording.

All toolkit modules are intended to be used to help ports:

  • Evaluate port conditions
  • Define problems
  • Plan thoroughly
  • Navigate the pre-planning process
  • Engage private partners
  • Present actionable needs to administrators
  • Access available funding
  • Complete project

Introduction and Users Guide
General Projects Module
ITS Module
     ITS Overview – ePrimer version
Marine Highway Projects Module     
     Project Designation Requests – American Samoa and Port of Everett
Resource Catalog
Port Concession Evaluation Model

A special webinar on the ITS module was held on May 2, 2019. A presentation patterned on an earlier version of the General Projects Module was made at the American Association of Port Authorities 2017 annual convention in Long Beach, CA. The speakers included Josh Hurwitz, Senior Consultant, Moffatt & Nichol; Blair Garcia, PPM®, Vice President, U.S. Director – Maritime Division, WSP; Anthony J. Renzi, Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; and Grover Burthey, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, U.S. Department of Transportation. Click here for a video of the session. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration under Agreement No. DTMA-91-H-2013-004. Opinions or points of view expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of, or a position that is endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the U.S. Department of Transportation, or any sub-agency or employee thereof.