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I live in a port city, Jacksonville, FL.....the State and Local Governments, often times with Federal Money have kept modernizing the port facilities...

The most recent project was to dredge the river bottom to increase the depth of the river to accommodate larger cargo ships...

In the past they built a cruise terminal to accommodate cruise lines...

In a liberal city like Portland, what is the likelihood that either project would have been funded ???

If the port is declining, most likely it’s because the necessary upgrades were never completed....

Jacksonville is different than Portland in one key respect: It's a major facility for the U.S. Navy in addition to being a commercial port.

Keep a close eye on things there over the long term. If the cargo moving through that port is mainly going to destinations far from Jacksonville, you might actually be better off spending your state and local government funds on something else.

A port like New York/New Jersey is a good example of a place where investing in port upgrades makes sense. It's a major metro area, and something like 80% of the cargo imported there ends up being shipped to destinations within 200 miles of the port. Los Angeles/Long Beach is the exact opposite. At least 75% of the imports there are moved out of the port through rail terminals and shipped across the country, so the local benefit is much smaller. For what it's worth, this is why the state and local governments out there have imposed very restrictive regulations on port trucking and related industries. The whole point is to minimize the local nuisance of a port district that primarily exists to serve people and industries far away.

"I live in a port city, Jacksonville, FL.....the State and Local Governments, often times with Federal Money have kept modernizing the port facilities..."

It makes sense. Why buy so many products that come from places like New York, when you can sell more to people in New York instead?

In other words, many people near a port that sells goods all over the U.S. can order items that arrive in containers for less and without the hassles and costs of long distance land freight. They can ship the items to people in other states.

It's a win-win for the local economy. Tourism is another win. Port tourism is another win. More people from other states will stop in Jacksonville to spend money.

Besides, Democrat tyrant states need to lose money.