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Business North - The Daily Briefing - Business Newspaper Online
Oberstar outlines Great Lakes agenda
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2/23/2007 |
Duluth - Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar today outlined an ambitious agenda of upgrades and investments for Great Lakes ports and waterways. In a speech to the Great Lakes Port Advocacy Coalition in Duluth, Oberstar described how he will use his position as Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to move that agenda forward.
Oberstar said dredging on the Great Lakes needs to be increased. Over the past decade, water levels on the Great Lakes have dropped by several inches. However, as the water has gone down, funding for dredging shipping channels on the lakes has held steady at about $88 million a year. Oberstar said it will take more than $200 million a year, for several years, to dredge key shipping channels.
Shallow water conditions have caused ships loaded with taconite to leave port 6,400 tons under their carrying capacity. Oberstar said that is raising the cost of Minnesota taconite. "If it weren't for the Chinese driving world steel prices to record highs, our steel industry would be dying because of those additional costs," Oberstar said. "We can't afford to be even that much non-competitive."
Oberstar said Short Sea Shipping is a new industry that could revitalize many of the ports on the Great Lakes. Congestion on the nation's highways and railroad lines has many companies looking for new ways to ship goods to market. A new generation of cargo vessels designed to carry goods on the Great Lakes could bypass much of that congestion and create new opportunities in port cities like Duluth. Oberstar said this is already being done in Europe. "Europe is looking at every way it can to reduce costs, and make their transportation system more mobile and more efficient. We can afford to do no less." Oberstar said he held his first hearing on Short Sea Shipping last week and expects the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to hold additional hearings.
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