Del. Harry R. “Bob” Purkey, R-Virginia Beach, wants to explore the idea of privatizing Virginia’s ports. He plans to ask the General Assembly to study whether privatization is in the state’s best interest, according to the Associated Press.
Port Authority Executive Director Jerry A. Bridges raised the possibility of privatization in May. More recently, John G. Milliken, the Port Authority’s chairman, has confirmed that the board has discussed the option.
To my mind, there is only one conceivable reason to oppose the idea: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Virginia’s ports — which include marine terminals in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News and the intermodal Virginia Inland Port in Front Royal — has been growing steadily and gaining East Coast market share.
Here’s the rub: The port’s competitiveness is constrained by transportation bottlenecks on Interstate 64 and U.S. 460 leading out of Hampton Roads. The Commonwealth lacks the money to upgrade those arteries, and it’s not clear how long it will take the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority, with tolls and a modest flow of locally generated taxes, to get the projects built. The general public has exhibited little stomach to pay higher taxes and tolls for the benefit of the region’s maritime interests.
The solution seems simple: Sell the ports to private interests and use the proceeds to upgrade the transportation infrastructure required to serve the ports. Pension funds, insurance companies and private investment groups have demonstrated an increasing appetite for investing in public infrastructure. The value of the port would be measured in the billions of dollars. That’s serious money, and it could pay for a lot of transportation upgrade.