Are port growth and coastal management compatible

Abstract Changes in the technology of marine transportation have imposed stress on coastlines throughout the developed world. One manifestation of these changes is that cargo handling activities are concentrated in “load center”; ports with heavy infrastructure investments in those ports and on adjacent coastal lands. U.S. ports generally operate as “public enterprises,”; marshalling economic and political power as they provide support services for the marine transportation industry, however, this style of management creates tensions between them and coastal planning agencies. In the following article, we seek to build a bridge between these port and coastal managers by addressing the major issues of port development and recasting them for coastal planners. We also consider whether it is possible to conceive of regional port planning in this country and, if so, how regional port planning might be developed.