Washington Post columnist George Will wrote last week from Charleston, South Carolina. His article published in the Wilmington StarNews was informative and discouraging. This story chronicles further evidence that American progress runs aground in waters made shallow by government-sponsored industrial sabotage. This infuriating tale is about shipping. (link here)
Charleston has the fourth busiest port in the United States. To keep up with the “marvels of naval architecture” Charleston Harbor must accommodate the new “post-Panamax” ships coming from Asia through the rebuild Panama Canal. It must be 5 feet deeper. But government agencies impose cumbersome, lengthy processes.
The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in charge of dredging found that the Charleston project would be the least expensive of several South Atlantic harbors. However, it could take up to 10 years to complete such a project—only in regressing America. (Mr. Will notes that it took less than 17 months to build the aircraft carrier Yorktown—now anchored in Charleston—that helped defeat the Japanese Empire in the Pacific.)
Within two years, wider, deeper ships will be coming through Panama able to carry two and one-half times more containers than older ships (12,600 vs. 5,000). Shipping costs less per mile than other global transports. Post-Panamax ships will reduce costs even more.
Will observes that because of “de-industrialization…America has essentially no deep-sea shipping industry.” Others systematically dismantled by political decree, environmental litigants and regulation include coal, oil, natural gas, timber and mineral resources.
One inexcusable case unfolds right here in River City. Three years after announcing plans to rebuild a cement plant, the company has yet to receive any permits required to operate.
Regressive Statists have pirated the U. S. ship-of-state. They infiltrate federal and, to a lesser extent, state regulatory agencies. They intimidate compliant politicians and spread fearful propaganda and lies. Statists stall regulatory approval processes through litigation to prevent industrial progress—stymying creativity; reducing productivity; discouraging investment; increasing business and consumer costs; and decreasing our quality of life.
Americans, once characterized as resourceful, responsive and bold are in danger of become a nation of dependent, hesitant and timid people—traits more associated with slaves than free and responsible citizens.
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17
2012 At 9:36 am, Toby Said:
There are ports and wanna be ports up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Several are already prepared to handle the 50′ draft Post Panamax vessels: Norfolk and Baltimore.
Dredging runs into the billions of dollars and once channels are dredged deeper than 45′, the cost sharing arrangement between the Feds and the State is altered significantly. At 45′ or less, the Feds pick up the tab. At 50′, the states have to pony up 60% of initial construction costs. By the way, that’s the taxpayers.
The Army Corps of Engineers is a fee for service agency. They survive on a full order book. As far as I know, they have never found a project to be “unfeasible”. What’s worse, they have never performed a national – or even regional – analysis to determine where the billions of federal dredging dollars are most effectively and efficiently spent. When asked why not, they replied, “no one has ever asked us”. Shocking. Really.
There is a bill in the Senate, sponsored by Jim DeMint and Lindsay Graham directing the corps to do exactly that. Unfortunately, it calls for a one-time analysis only, when it should be an ongoing process. But certainly, this is a whole lot better than nothing.
The CEO of the Panama Canal Authority has stated that only two East Coast deepwater ports (and one in the Gulf) are needed in 2014 and beyond to service the 15K TEU vessels resulting from the Panama Canal expansion.
In NC, the market and economic realities have no impact on our Governor and members of the General Assembly that are poised to spend $4.4 billion to build a deepwater port at Southport where the water is not deep. Dredging costs: $1.2 billion in today’s dollars. Total cost of the project: $4.4 billion.
To advance this project, we must ignore the fact that the Port of Wilmington captures only 20% of all imports/exports originating from the state; 80% of our companies use competing ports in neighboring states. We must close our eyes to the reality that our ports are bleeding millions every year and are taxpayer subsidized. We must not acknowledge that we are light years behind competing ports and will never catch up. $4.4 billion, $8 billion, $20 billion, will not change the reality of geography. Southport is even further from major population centers than Wilmington and it has no roads, no rail and no deepwater. The 600 acres designated for a “deepwater port” is currently marsh and farmland.
NC taxpayers would be far better served by maximizing the opportunities at our existing ports and making them profitable. After all, we’re investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the ports at Wilmington and Morehead City. After $48 million already spent on Southport, it’s time oiur Governor relinquishes the elusive, vanity-driven and impossible dream of competing with the likes of Norfolk, Baltimore, Charleston and Savannah.
17
2012 At 11:55 am, Mike Rice Said:
An infuriating tale, indeed. And foolish, frustrating, and futile. Billions upon billions to dredge harbors to accommodate deeper draft ships from Asia.
Let’s look south. South America has something to teach us besides the tango. Instead of racing one another to dredge harbors deeper, as our states are doing, South American countries are standing pat with 42-foot deep harbors and letting the purveyors of Chinese sneakers and Korean television sets come to them.
And they are. Maersk, the largest shipping line in the world, is capable of other “marvels of naval architecture”–Post-Panamax container ships, broad of beam to take advantage of the new, wider locks abuilding at the Panama Canal, but shallow enough draft to enter the 42-foot harbors on the east coast of South America. And, mirabile dictu, the 42-foot harbors on the east coast of North America. Two are in service; 14 more are on order. Only slightly less capacity–7500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU)–than the 8000 TEU ships regarded as the future workhorse in the container trade. And more stable and more efficient. http://savethecape.org/stcwp1/wp-content/uploads/PDFs/ShipSize.pdf
Technology is good. Vanity is bad.