Regulatory Impacts and Infrastructure Needs to Improve the Efficiency of California Marine Ports

Research Team: Stephen Ritchie (lead), Craig Rindt, and Priscilla Chu

UC Campus(es): UC Irvine

Problem Statement: Goods movement is integral to the economy of California. However, California does not exist in a vacuum: its ports and economy compete nationally and internationally for the economic benefits that are brought through trade. Issues of throughput and mobility can create a competitive disadvantage for the state and business could be lost to neighboring regions. As such, it is critical to understand how to remove barriers to goods movement transportation and delivery, while making the system safer and lessening the impact on the traveling public and our communities. The wide range of academic, agency, and consultant work in this area means that there is a broad literature addressing these questions, but there is no recent comprehensive review that integrates a synthesis of regulatory impacts with potential operational and infrastructure improvements along with a summary of existing methods for assessing these strategies.

Project Description: In this project, a review of the California Freight Mobility Plan was performed to evaluate the direction currently being provided to ports and the maritime sector, to identify shortcomings of these freight plans, and how to best address these shortcomings. California lacks a specialized maritime strategy, which makes it difficult for stakeholders to work in tandem and bolster California’s maritime competitiveness. It is concluded that such a maritime policy could address challenges the ports are experiencing, focus stakeholders’ efforts and resources into a shared vision for the future of California’s ports as a whole.

Status: Completed

Budget: $50,000