Page 45: of Marine News Magazine (November 2015)

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Port Planning and

Investment Toolkit

Our nation’s river ports are as indis- pensable a component of the U.S. in- land waterways as are the rivers’ locks and dams. While each port’s funding needs are speci? c to that port, ports of a certain type or size often share simi- lar needs. To help U.S. ports address those funding needs, the U.S. Mari- time Administration (MarAd) has recently provided a resource to help

U.S. ports with planning and invest- ment as part of MarAd’s StrongPorts program: the “Port Planning and In- vestment Toolkit” (www.marad.dot.

gov/ports/strongports/port-planning- and-investment-toolkit), developed by MarAd and the American Associa- tion of Port Authorities (AAPA), with the stated goal of being a “go-to guide to plan, fund and execute critical re- pair and project upgrades.”

The ? rst tool developed for the Port

Planning and Investment Toolkit has been the “Funding Strategy Module,” available on the StrongPorts website noted above. The Funding Strategy

Module is a major piece of work. It provides guidance on how a port can develop its own pro? le, how due dili- gence should be conducted for a given project, how a port can develop an understanding of its creditworthiness and available debt and capital sources, how alternative ? nancing structures can be identi? ed and evaluated, how debt ? nancing can be implemented and managed, how to determine if public-private partnerships might be feasible, and how the port can posi- tion itself for grant funding and gov- ernment loan programs. The pro? les and case studies of several real-world

U.S. port projects are included that represent a range of successful port projects that have used various fund- ing techniques following the princi- ples outlined in the Toolkit.

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