The Port of LA applauds lawmakers for passage of WRDA 2020 December 24, 2020, posted by Zlatan Hrvacevic
The Port of Los Angeles praised U.S. Congressional and local leaders for approving the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 (WRDA) as part of the year-end omnibus and COVID relief legislative package.
The bipartisan legislation, approved on Monday by the House and Senate, is essential to the country’s ports, harbors, and inland waterways.
“I am particularly proud that this legislation achieves my decades-long mission to unlock the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) by allowing billions of dollars in already-collected HMTF fees to be used for their intended purpose ensuring that maintenance needs of U.S. ports and harbors are met,” said Rep.
Port expansion included in giant federal spending package
President Donald Trump is expected to sign on Tuesday a massive relief and federal spending package passed by Congress late Monday that authorizes major port expansion projects and opens $1 billion in funds for harbor maintenance dredging.
The port funding legislation, the biennial Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), was part of a $1.4 trillion fiscal year 2021 appropriations omnibus bill that also contains $900 billion in emergency COVID-19 relief and program funding for the U.S. Department of Transportation and other federal agencies.
WRDA formally authorized the expansion of the Houston Ship Channel, known as Project 11, an $885 billion project that will allow for two-way traffic of next-generation-size containerships.
Ports Association Hires Membership, Public Affairs Executives
The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) the unified and recognized voice of seaports in the Americas announced it has hired two new senior staff members to fill positions of two long-time senior staff who will soon be retiring. Paula Gonzalez, previously the global membership manager for the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) in Newark, Del., began her new position as AAPA’s senior manager of membership recruitment on Dec. 7. She will replace Ed O’Connell, AAPA’s membership services director, who began his tenure with the association in 1997 and will retire at the end of 2020.