PORTS America, the largest port operator in the US, will be awarded control of the state-owned portion of the east coast Port of Baltimore for the next 50 years in exchange for the company's pledge to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to expand and maintain the facility, according to Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley.
A report by the Washington Post said the deal is expected to create thousands of jobs, particularly over the next four years as Ports America commences construction on a berth big enough to accommodate some of the world's largest container ships that are anticipated to arrive from Asia after the expansion of the Panama Canal is completed in 2014.
It said that building of the berth and cargo cranes would likely create 1,000 jobs, while an extra 2,000 workers would be employed in coming years to fix roads, bridges and tunnels around the terminal.
Ports America would immediately pay the state US$100 million towards the improvement works if the state's General Assembly and Board of Public Works confirm the deal, the report said.
It added that in the long term, the state expects the expanded port to provide an additional 2,700 jobs a year and $15.7 million in annual tax revenue.
Furthermore, according to the terms of the deal, the state will receive a $15 fee for every container above 500,000 handled by the port annually. In 2008 more than 600,000 containers were offloaded or loaded at Seagirt.
Source : HKSG, 25.11.09
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