Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, announced that a total of $71,488,445 in federal grants have been awarded to five critical ports in Washington state, including: Port of Grays Harbor, Northwest Seaport Alliance Port of Seattle, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Port of Olympia and the Port of Port Angeles. The grants were awarded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP).

The Port of Seattle will receive a $17,035,900 federal grant for its ongoing expansion and emissions reduction project.

“Terminal 5 expansion is central to our strategy to reduce port congestion, strengthen the supply chain, and create more good-paying maritime jobs in Seattle. This $17 million grant will fund new cargo storage space needed to reduce backlogs and improve export efficiency so our famers and exporters can get their products on ships and delivered to markets around the world. This grant will also fund the construction of additional truck lanes and scales to improve movement of freight at the port, reduce delays, and lower costs facing shippers and consumers,” Sen. Cantwell said about the Northwest Seaport Alliance Port of Seattle grant.

As Chair, Sen. Cantwell worked to include a record $2.25 billion for the program in the Biden-Harris Infrastructure Law. In September 2021, Sen. Cantwell led a letter calling to boost funding for the PIDP program to help address the ongoing issues with port congestion.

Sen. Cantwell has consistently championed and coauthored the 2019 legislation that reauthorized MARAD and the PIDP grant program. Sen. Cantwell is currently fighting to reauthorize MARAD and the PIDP grant program in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. Most recently, the MARAD and PIDP were reauthorized in the 2021 National Defense Reauthorization Act, a provision authored by Sen. Cantwell.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, port congestion significantly impacted American consumers and businesses. Ships carrying perishables have been held up, sometimes for weeks, causing produce to rot in their containers, resulting in huge losses and reduced food supply. Along with securing more PIDP funding, Sen. Cantwell was instrumental in passing the Ocean Shipping Reform Act to strengthen maritime supply chains and protect Washington farmers and exporters from shipping companies’ unfair practices, which passed the Commerce Committee in March 2022 and signed into law by President Biden in June 2022.

The following five PIDP grants were awarded to these Washington state ports:

Read more about the program and the 41 projects across 22 states here.