Massport to invest $1B in air- and seaport expansion

By Colin A. Young
State House News Service

The Massachusetts Port Authority is planning to issue more than $1 billion in new debt over the coming years as it embarks on a series of projects designed to accommodate more passenger flights, larger cruise ships, and larger container vessels in Boston.

Speaking this week to a conference of investors who could buy some of the agency's debt, acting MassPort CEO John Pranckevicius touted some of the projects planned for Logan International Airport, Conley Container Terminal in South Boston, and the Ray Flynn Cruiseport as boons to the local economy and products of the economy's recent success.

At Logan, a roughly $750 million project will include an expansion of the international terminal and the reconfiguration of other terminals and gates, and a $250 million project seeks to redesign the roadways that service the busiest terminals.

"We have a workforce that has a tendency to do a lot of travel," Pranckevicius said, also pointing out the state's low unemployment rate and high income levels. "That economic stimulus generated from the policies here in Massachusetts are driving a lot of the airlines to add more service."

The expansions come while Logan prepares for some of its largest carriers – JetBlue, Delta, Southwest, and United – to increase the number of their daily flights to or from Boston.

Pranckevicious said Logan is on pace to serve 40.8 million passengers in 2018. In the next seven to 10 years, he said, Logan's annual passenger count is expected to jump to 50 million.

"We have a robust economy driving strong demand for air travel to and from Boston and from that demand, our airline business partners are seeing strong returns on their investments at Boston," Dan Gallagher, MassPort's director of aviation business and finance, said.

MassPort is also in the midst of investing about $850 million in the Conley shipping terminal – including the dredging of the harbor channel, the addition of a new berth at the terminal, and the purchase of new ship-to-shore cranes – to allow it to accommodate larger ships that carry more containers.

"As the global shipping industry evolves, in order to make sure that these assets continue to be a significant economic engine, we have put in place a plan to invest more than $850 million to adapt to the changing global industry," port director Lisa Wieland said. "That's because the businesses in New England and here in the commonwealth rely on Conley Terminal to connect to the global economy. It is New England's only full-service container terminal."

When the widened Panama Canal opened to ship traffic in 2016, Wieland said, shipping lines immediately began sending larger ships to Boston. Before the canal expansion, ships generally carried 4,000 to 6,000 containers. Weiland said once the canal expansion was complete, the terminal began serving ships carrying 8,000 to 9,000 containers.

"And the conversations we're having with the shipping lines, they're telling us to be ready for even bigger ships," she said.

Across the Reserve Channel, at the Ray Flynn Cruiseport, MassPort is developing plans that will allow larger ships to be homeported in Boston, rather than just visiting the city as a port of call. The port served a record 389,000 passengers on 152 ship calls last season, according to Wieland, and the cruise lines are eager to expand in Boston.

"Our growth has been basically outpacing the industry overall and beating the forecast we did a few years ago," she said. "The cruise lines continue to talk about new itineraries and larger ships in this market."

See 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Musical' with Hull Park & Rec

Hull Park & Rec is offering tickets to “How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Musical” at the Boch Wang Theater in Boston for $25 per person. Price includes bus transport to and from the Memorial School.

Children 5 and up can attend the 6 p.m. performance on Sunday, Dec. 9 without an adult present, but families are encouraged to attend together.

To sign up, visit the Park & Rec website at www.town.hull.ma.us or call Melissa, 781-708-6877.

State officials offer Thanksgiving travel outlook

By Katie Lannan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

Projecting a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in traffic volume as Thanksgiving approaches, with more than 1.5 million people moving through Logan Airport and a "very unsettled weather pattern," state officials are recommending travelers take additional time and caution this week.

"There will be a lot of extra travelers out there over the next few days and this week, and because of the nature of holiday travel, many of these travelers will not be everyday users of our transportation facilities. So if you are traveling, it's especially important to pay extra attention to your surroundings," Massachusetts Department of Transportation highway administrator Jonathan Gulliver said said at a press conference Monday at MassDOT's South Boston highway operations center.

All road construction will be shut down to accommodate the anticipated traffic volume, with crews mobilizing only for emergency responses, Gulliver said.

"For those of you who may not follow the forecasts as closely as many of us up here do, we are also in a very unsettled weather pattern over the next few days, so we are preparing for a wintry mix tomorrow, and then again it looks like we might get some of the same this weekend into Sunday," he said. "We have sufficient materials and resources and equipment to deal with the weather, but we also need the help of the traveling public."

Gulliver said free coffee will be available for motorists at 18 service plazas across the state, including on the Massachusetts Turnpike, from 10 p.m. Thursday through 5 a.m. Friday.

Coffee and fresh air can help a drowsy driver, but the best solution is to "pull over to a safe location and take a quick nap," said Jeff Larason, director of highway safety in the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.

Larason urged drivers to keep their cellphones out of sight to avoid distractions. He cautioned that safety officials are also focused on drowsiness and impairments like cannabis – the first two adult-use marijuana retailers in Massachusetts are set to open Tuesday – and alcohol.

"Many of you might know that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is commonly known as Blackout Wednesday," Larason said. "It's a time when a lot of people go out and celebrate. What we encourage people to do is if you're going to be celebrating over the holidays, plan ahead, get a ride share, a taxi, or use the MBTA so you can get to and from your destination safely and avoid the challenges of impairment."

MBTA General Manager Luis Ramirez said the T will run a Sunday schedule on Thanksgiving, with a few exceptions including "enhanced" service levels on the Silver Line 1 route that serves the airport, and a regular weekday schedule on Wednesday and Friday. Commuter rail will have added capacity on selected trains leaving Boston Wednesday afternoon, he said.

Drivers traveling this week will find gasoline prices three cents lower than last week, with regular unleaded averaging $2.71 a gallon, AAA Northeast announced Monday. The average price per gallon a year ago was 18 cents lower, at $2.53, according to AAA.

Mass. jobless rate below 4% for 30 straight months

The unemployment rate in Massachusetts dropped slightly, to 3.5 percent, last month as the state added 4,440 jobs, labor officials announced Friday.

October marked the 30th consecutive month the unemployment rate had held below 4 percent. Nationally, the rate is at 3.7 percent, state Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta said.

“With the Commonwealth's consistently low rate of unemployment, the economy continues to add jobs at a healthy clip and our labor force continues to grow to meet employment needs, with an additional 169,600 employed residents and 5,200 fewer unemployed over the last year,” she said.

The educational and health services, construction, information, manufacturing, trade, transportation and utilities, other services and professional, scientific and business services sectors all added jobs in October. Leisure and hospitality, financial activities, and government recorded job losses.

The total Massachusetts labor force in October was up 174,800 from the 3,658,100 people in October 2017.

–Katie Lannan/State House News Service

MBTA increases service capacity for Sox celebration Wednesday

By Chris Triunfo, State House News Service

The MBTA on Wednesday will run enhanced subway service throughout the day and provide additional capacity on certain commuter rail lines to accommodate the crowds expected to throng the city to celebrate the Boston Red Sox and their World Series win.

Subway services will operate at rush-hour levels from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. Wednesday also marks the celebration of Halloween, which will make commuter services especially busy, according to MBTA General Manager Luis Ramirez.

"Because the parade coincides with Halloween, we fully expect Wednesday to be a busy day in Boston and around the region," Ramirez said in a statement. "So, as a reminder, we’re asking people to please stay informed of service information. We want everyone to have an enjoyable day, so please be safe, be respectful, and enjoy the special day on Wednesday."

According to the MBTA, approximately 200 Keolis and commuter rail personnel will be at key stations to assist with wayfinding, boarding, and schedule information. Bikes will not be allowed on any commuter rail trains.

The parade begins at 11 a.m. at Fenway Park and will run on city streets near the following subway stations: Hynes Convention Center, Copley, Arlington, Boylston, Park Street, Downtown Crossing, and Government Center.

HRA will open development proposals at meeting tonight

The Hull Redevelopment meets at 6:30 p.m. at the Anne Scully Senior Center, 197A Samoset Ave.

At 7 p.m., authority members will open at least two responses to its Request for Proposals to develop a portion of the 13-acre urban renewal site. The land has been vacant for nearly a half-century.

The Times will publish meeting details in Thursday's edition.

New residents fuel state economy, experts believe

By Michael P. Norton

Economists have long argued that a labor crunch in Massachusetts, punctuated by an aging workforce and slow natural growth in the labor force and population, is serving as a brake on economic growth. They're changing their tune now.

Economists on the editorial board of the economic journal MassBenchmarks met privately Sept. 28 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. They released their consensus findings late last week and reported they had a "spirited" discussion about economic activity, including recent growth they described as the fastest since the recovery began in August 2009.

Notably, they reported that employment in Massachusetts has grown, year to date through August, at an annualized rate of 1.9 percent – "faster than normal for the state" – with growth concentrated in professional services, construction, and the software, education, and health sectors.

As recently as January the same group of economists reported that the pace of economic growth in Massachusetts was expected to slow in 2018 due to labor supply constraints. But the most recent numbers from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development show a sharp uptick in the labor force in Massachusetts, which was up by 145,700 people from the 3,660,400 in August 2017, with 141,800 more residents employed and 3,900 more residents unemployed.

The question is where are those people coming from.

In their most recent talks, the economists concluded more residents are participating in the labor force and international immigration "seems to be holding steady, but does not appear to be a source of growth." And while noting that hard data won't be available "for quite some time," they tentatively agreed that domestic migration – or people moving to Massachusetts from other states – appears to be on the rise, even though it's been a net negative for years.

"It stands to reason that the fuel for the state's recent labor force growth is the movement of workers into the state from other states," economists wrote Thursday in an "excerpts from the board" summary released by the UMass Donahue Institute. "This could entail people both moving in to live and work in the state, and an increase in workers commuting into the state."

Compared to other states, high housing and energy costs and a higher cost-of-living in Massachusetts have long served as an impediment to growth, countered by the state's economic selling points such as higher wages and stable knowledge-based industries like higher education, the life sciences and health care.

State officials told the News Service Friday that residential developers on the North Shore say nearly a quarter of their leases are from people relocating from out of state. And Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash says jobs are pulling more people into Massachusetts.

"Massachusetts is renowned for its world-class talent, educational institutions, and forward-thinking companies. Our innovation economy relies heavily on our highly educated and skilled workforce, and it also attracts people who live in the broader New England region to cross the border for great jobs," Ash said. "Companies from key sectors such as life sciences and advanced manufacturing are expanding their presence in the state or relocating operations altogether, and this creates a greater pull for talent."

MassBenchmarks Executive Editor Robert Nakosteen, an economics professor at UMass Amherst, said editorial board members are "digging into the data" as they look for more conclusive proof about domestic migration.

IRS data reflecting 2018 tax returns and Census Bureau data will be available in late 2019 or 2020 and will shed light on domestic migration, according to Michael Goodman, co-editor of MassBenchmarks and executive director of the Public Policy Center at UMass Dartmouth.

"We just sort of backed our way into the hypothesis," Goodman said. "We reasoned our way to a plausible explanation for the growth."