Federal stimulus funds may deliver much-needed cash to maritime seaports, which say they have lost income from restaurants and hotels on port property that were shuttered under pandemic conditions even as the ports handled record numbers of freight containers.
In California, the Port of Oakland is in line to receive a portion of $250 million earmarked for ports in the state’s proposed budget. That money comes from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, also known as the Covid-19 Stimulus Package passed by Congress.
The financing is needed because the ports of Oakland, San Diego, and San Francisco have business partners who rely on robust tourism, which in turn pays for port leases. But with Covid-19 impacts, ports have had to defer many capital projects and dig into their budget reserves to meet the financial consequences presented by the pandemic, the Port of Oakland said.
“These new funds will help ports, which are absolutely vital to the state’s economic strength and recovery going forward,” Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan said in a release. “When Oakland’s port flourishes and its business partners are doing well, together, we can support more than 84,000 jobs in the region and impact more than a million jobs across the country.”
Likewise in Florida, state legislators steered another $250 million in federal relief funds to that state’s seaports in their own draft budget. Similar to California, those ports have been busy handling imports and exports, but lost an estimated 169,000 jobs and $23 billion in economic activity due to cruise ships that were shut down during the pandemic in 2020, according to the Florida Ports Council.
Cargo ports prepare for cash infusion from federal stimulus bill
Despite record container volumes, ports lost millions in 2020 under pandemic travel and tourism restrictions.
