Providence Journal - Boosting the Port

News Article

Here's taxpayer money well spent: A new portable crane has arrived to be placed at Pier 2 at the Port of Davisville, which is part of the Quonset Point complex. That will position the port to create jobs, increase trade through Rhode Island, boost tax revenue, and help us obtain some of the short-sea shipping between ports along the Eastern Seaboard.

The $4 million crane is part of more than $22 million in grants that Quonset/Davisville had received through the federal TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) program. By the Quonset Development Corporation's estimates, increased local, state and federal tax revenues from business activity associated with the crane will pay for its costs in only five years. The QDC estimates that it will create hundreds of new jobs -- between about 460 and 800.

"Upgrading the pier and adding this versatile new crane will help leverage the federal investments we've made in Quonset by bringing short-sea-shipping options to the port," said Sen. Jack Reed (D.-R.I.). As a member of the Appropriations Committee, the senator was well positioned to steer these federal funds back to Rhode Island.

Already, the port is busy, host to the seventh-largest auto importer in North America. Its excellent rail connections enhance its usefulness.

"We want to build on that success. This crane can help us diversify, maximize our assets, and bring more business and economic growth to Rhode Island," said Senator Reed.

The new crane can lift up to 140 metric tons and is about 126 feet high. It will let the port handle 100 percent of the annual containerized cargo traffic now projected for the port, says a recent legislative study. Short-sea shipping, which Rhode Island hopes to attract, makes it faster and cheaper to move goods, while unclogging the region's highways and lessening pollution.

We have long argued that Rhode Island could benefit greatly by exploiting its working ports much more. Former Gov. Donald Carcieri, unfortunately, halted efforts to create a full-fledged containerized-cargo port at Quonset, in part because local yachtsmen did not want to share Narragansett Bay three months of the year with a big commercial vessel about once a week. He opted instead to pursue such disastrous chimeras as 38 Studios.

Still, it is good that this new crane will help Rhode Island play a stronger role in trade. Not every state has such ports in such excellent locations.

Source