Taskforce: Budget cuts hurt Great Lakes shippers

Taskforce: Budget cuts hurt Great Lakes shippers The Bush administration's proposed federal budget would reduce maintenance money for Great Lakes infrastructure by 35 percent from $140 million in 2008 to $89.3 million, according to the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force.
   “Any reduction in the Corps (of Engineers') dredging budget for the lakes would be a double whammy of the worst kind,” said Patrick O’Hern, president of the task force, which notes that the Great Lakes has already been suffering from “record or near- to record-low water levels.
   “An adequately funded maintenance program doesn’t solve the problem, but it certainly helps offset the impacts of falling water levels,” said O’Hern, who is vice president and general manager of Bay Shipbuilding Co. in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. “Now is absolutely the worst imaginable time for any reduction in Great Lakes dredging funds.”
   Daniel Smith, national executive vice president of the American Maritime Officers, said that because of low water, some ships are “forfeiting 15 percent of their carrying capacity” — up to 10,000 deadweight tons on a 1,000-foot long bulker.
   Cargo movement on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway amounts to 250 million tons a year.
   James Weakley, president of the Lake Carrier’s Association, said that instead of cutting dredging on the Great Lakes, the administration should be funding it at $170 million per year. Without that level of funding he contended, “we are contributing to its decay and putting American manufacturers and power producers at a competitive disadvantage.”
   John Baker, president of the Great Lakes District Council of the International Longshoremen’s Association, said lack of dredging might shift cargo to rail or truck, resulting in increased energy consumption and pollution. ' Chris Dupin