Why are water terminals provided by the public and operated by local government agencies?

Similar to highways water carriers terminals are funded and supported by government agencies. The difference is that water ports tend to be supported by local agencies while highways are supported by the federal government. Again, like the highways, ports are considered a catalyst to economic activity in the community, and it is this belief that has spurred public investment in the operation of ports.

In addition to public support some volume users of transportation invest in and operate port facilities or shipper run terminals. The firms will typically work with the port authority and purchase or lease land and then build facilities and infrastructure to support their operations. Numerous facilities have be created by individual firms to handle such commodities as grain, coal, and oil. Typically water carriers have the opportunity to use these private facilities owned by shippers.

In addition to load / unload facilities most port authorities also have storage facilities that they rent. The sheer volume of commodities that can be loaded on a ship necessitates some type of staging facility to support loading and unloading ships.