When Eimskip, Iceland's largest shipping company, announced in the spring of 2013 that it was moving its U.S. port of call from Norfolk, Va., to Portland, Craig Morin admits it was an occasion for high-fives at HNTB Corp.'s Maine office in Westbrook.

"It proved our design made the port viable and attractive for a new shipping business to come here," says Morin, a structural engineer at the employee-owned transportation infrastructure consulting company, which has approximately 3,500 employees in 60 offices and annual revenue of $1 billion.

For Morin, Eimskip's arrival and the resulting import-export growth opportunities for Maine, illustrate how infrastructure investments supported by careful strategic analysis and planning can deliver both immediate and long-term economic benefits. He helped the Maine Port Authority and Maine Department of Transportation land a $14 million grant in 2010 under the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program, helping fund improvements at Maine's three deep-water ports — Eastport, Searsport and Portland. Portland's $5 million share paid for the upgrades at the International Marine Terminal, designed by HNTB, that set the stage for Eimskip's arrival. The resulting cargo growth has spurred a westward expansion of the facility that upon its completion next summer will double its size and provide a direct link to Pan Am Railways via a track extension to the terminal from Cassidy Point.

"This has been a five-year process, a very collaborative effort involving the city, Maine Department of Transportation, Maine Port Authority, ourselves and all the other stakeholders," Morin says. "We knew this wasn't going to happen overnight."

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