{"id":22454,"date":"2026-11-06T10:56:49","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T15:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/?p=22454"},"modified":"2026-11-06T13:45:41","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T18:45:41","slug":"class-comes-into-port","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/news\/class-comes-into-port\/","title":{"rendered":"Class Comes Into Port"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On a field trip to the Port of Davisville, URI students saw the economics they study in class at work, from new cars and old trucks to offshore wind.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Nov. 6, 2026 \u2013 Last week, 27 students from Professor Simona Trandafir’s<\/a> Shipping and Ports <\/em>class stood on the waterfront at Quonset, Rhode Island, as a vessel eased toward the pier at the Port of Davisville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For half a semester they had studied how ports operate and the economics of moving goods around the world. Still, Trandafir said, \u201cit is hard to appreciate the sheer scale and complexity of a working port until you actually visit one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe shipping market we study in class turned into something I could watch in action,\u201d said Anna Milton, a Marine Affairs<\/a> major, \u201cincluding how ports adjust as industries and energy needs shift.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A port you can read like a textbook<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhode Island’s only public port, Davisville ranks among the top 10 auto importers in North America and handled more than 200,000 vehicles in 2025.

Port Director Joe Riccio walked the group through the operation, from the automobile business to the many people it takes to keep cargo moving, including the part most visitors never hear: how a port actually makes money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That explanation reframed the parking lots full of new cars. Vehicles are among the port’s most valuable cargo, and Milton said seeing the business model up close made it clear why. She was also struck by the scale.

“I was surprised by how much a single port can handle at once,” she said. “It moves thousands of vehicles from brands like Porsche and Volkswagen while also preparing for offshore wind and newer LNG-powered ships that burn cleaner.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyle Jolicoeur, a double major in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics<\/a> (ENRE) and Marine Affairs, noticed the cars at both ends of their working lives. Rows of new luxury Volkswagen Group vehicles waited to ship to dealerships. Nearby, worn-out cars and trucks were being readied for export to the Dominican Republic and West Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The same waterfront also showed students where the regional economy is heading. Davisville has served as a staging hub for offshore wind, and Riccio\u2019s tour touched on neighbors such as Electric Boat, which manufactures submarines, and REGENT, which is developing all-electric seagliders, along with the port\u2019s role in offshore wind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several students, Trandafir said, were surprised by how much maritime activity and innovation is happening right here in Rhode Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Seeing the port as a hub of the new ‘blue economy’ was fascinating,” Jolicoeur said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A way of thinking, not a list of answers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese visits help students understand how ports operate, and also how they connect to the broader economy, local communities, and emerging industries,\u201d Trandafir said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The course is cross-listed between ENRE and marine affairs, and the port is a good picture of what ENRE students learn to do. A single pier holds competing pressures: the revenue that keeps the port running, the jobs it supports, the energy transition reshaping its future, and the communities on both ends of every shipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

URI’s ENRE major pairs natural science with economics to work through exactly those kinds of trade-offs. “ENRE doesn’t teach solutions, it teaches a way to solve problems,” Jolicoeur said. “Solutions to local and global problems can seem easy to solve, but when you examine different perspectives, research different technologies, and weigh costs and benefits, these problems are more complex than meets the eye.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Marine Affairs students, the visit put coursework into context. One of the first programs of its kind in the world, Marine Affairs teaches that managing the ocean means weighing law, economics, and the needs of coastal communities alongside the science, and a working port like Davisville is where all of those meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The economy puts a lot of pressure on our communities and on major ports,” Milton said. “Seeing how linked everything is helped me understand how much of what we encounter on a daily basis depends on ports.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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