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86 Doing Business in Connecticut | 2016 Transportation INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT › sponsible for coordinating a long-term vision and no one actively promoting them with do- mestic and international shippers, Gash said. Gash envisions the new port author- ity director as someone who will "person- ally go to various shipping and marketing expos and really push the ports and find the markets that are interested in coming to Connecticut." Gash said New Haven, the most active of the three deep-water ports, has its own port authority to advance its agenda and has been able to secure federal funding to keep its channel dredged. But "when it came to com- petitive advantage," he said, "they were more or less a small voice in a very large room." Sullivan said the creation of a statewide port authority couldn't come at a more opportune time, as large U.S. ports are spending billions to deepen their harbors to accommodate the larger ships expected with the widening of the Panama Canal. e expansion will triple the size of the ships able to pass through the canal. While those mega-ships will be going to much deeper harbors like New York, Norfolk and Miami, Sullivan hopes Connecticut can attract some of the mid-sized and smaller ships they displace. "ey're going to need someplace to go," Sullivan said. "Our hope and aspiration is the Connecticut Port Authority will put us in a positon to win more than our fair share of some of that business that will be up for grabs." With the economy improving and the port authority up and running, Gash said the state's ports are also well-positioned to win back some of the markets they have lost in the last decade. He said the base infrastructure in Bridgeport could still support a large fresh fruit market, which the city lost when ba- nana importer Turbana le for Philadelphia in 2008. Meanwhile, bringing steel and lum- ber products back to New London "would be a big win for us, especially as the housing market has picked up," Gash said. Sullivan said one of the benefits of Con- necticut ports, especially New London, is that they can offer connections to freight rail, allow- ing an importer to access southern and central New England all the way into Massachusetts. "We think there are potential job- creation opportunities and development opportunities not only in the cities with ports, but inland as well," Sullivan said. He said there are also potential traffic and environmen- tal benefits. "Every ton of cargo that can come into the state via ship is one less truck on I-95 or I-91 or I-84," said Sullivan. e Connecticut Maritime Coalition estimates waterborne transport keeps 950,000 trucks off Con- necticut's roads each year, noting that private operators move 19 million tons of cargo, 2.6-million people and 850,000 vehicles over water annually. e Connecticut Legislature created the quasi-public authority in 2014, aer years of lobbying. Governed by a 15-member board of directors, the authority will have the power to issue bonds and will be in charge of all state ports and coastal harbors. e authority will operate similarly to the Connecticut Airport Authority, which was created in 2013 to help promote the state's airports. ❑ > Continued from page 85 $5 billion Business output from Connec cut's mari me-dependent industries, their suppliers and related economic ac vity. 30,000 The number of jobs within the state's mari me industry. $1.7 billion Total household income from mari me industry jobs. $2.7 billion State Gross Domes c Product from the mari me industry. Source: CT Mari me Coali on. Maritime Industry By the Numbers ' Bridgeport, New London and New Haven are really important assets for our economy that present the opportunity for a lot of job creation and private investment. ' — tim sullivan, deputy commissioneR, ct depaRtment of economic and community development