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Maritime Mission
The Maritime Administration (MARAD), an agency of the Department of Transportation, administers federal laws that foster and maintain a U.S. merchant marine capable of meeting the nation's shipping needs for domestic and international waterborne commerce and national security. MARAD also seeks to ensure that the United States enjoys adequate shipbuilding and repair services and possesses efficient and adequate port capacity complemented by effective intermodal water and landside transportation. The agency promotes the use of U.S.-flag vessels, manages an active reserve of ships in the Ready Reserve Force (RRF), maintains an inactive inventory of ships in the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF), and ensures the availability of a pool of highly skilled merchant marine officers and seafarers through its operation of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y., and its support of six state maritime academies (in California, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, and Texas).
With expanding economic globalization, a massive increase in international trade and cargo--and the corresponding growth in both environmental impacts and congestion of landside transportation--MARAD has sharpened its focus on logistics, ports, intermodalism, environmental activities, and international trade practices. Ensuring environmentally sound transportation to meet future U.S. national-security and commercial needs requires a well-planned and truly integrated multimodal transportation system. Moreover, international standards have become increasingly important in maintaining the integrity of U.S. commerce and the competitiveness and strength of the U.S. maritime industrial base.
Strategic Planning and Performance Feedback
MARAD's Strategic Plan sets out a course of action for managing and carrying out MARAD's vision for the maritime transportation system. The plan also serves as a framework for reporting important annual performance information, which is used by MARAD officials, the president, Congress, and interested members of both the public and maritime industry to judge the effectiveness of MARAD.
By creating a strong link between mission, strategic objectives, resources expended, and subsequent performance, MARAD hopes to show what is being accomplished and why it is important, and yet also promote accountability and demonstrate the cost effectiveness of its accomplishments. MARAD officials and staff will use performance information and customer feedback to improve future operations and plan future efforts.
Historical Perspective
The United States is a maritime nation. America has long relied heavily on its merchant marine and maritime industries to establish and maintain its preeminence as a major economic power as well as to provide for its defense. Even in early colonial times America's merchant marine was an important auxiliary to the British Navy. As ties between the mother country and the 13 colonies strained and ultimately broke, America's merchant marine played a vital role in the war for independence and the peace that followed.
International Trade. By the late 1780s, the upstart Yankee nation had added the West Indies and India--as well as Baltic, Mediterranean, and African ports--to its already flourishing trade with England, France, and China. It took only a generation of Yankee ingenuity and persistence before the American-flag fleet was carrying nearly one million tons of cargo to ports around the globe. By 1826, U.S.-flag merchant vessels transported 92 percent of America's foreign trade.
Today, 95 percent of the nation's huge overseas trade still moves by water, but only about three percent is carried by the U.S.-flag fleet. This downward spiral has disturbing implications for America's national security and economic vigor. Without a U.S.-flag fleet, the nation's foreign commerce and its auxiliary sealift capability would depend exclusively on foreign-flag ships.
Oceangoing jobs did employ nearly 16,000 U.S. citizen-mariners as of 1 January 2000. Maritime-related shoreside activities engage thousands more. During 1999, U.S. corporations earned approximately $3.8 billion in freight and charter revenues from the operations of U.S.-flag liner vessels, contributing millions of tax dollars for federal, state, and local governments.
United States Shipbuilding. Well-endowed with resources, the United States stood alone as the undisputed world leader in shipbuilding until the 1850s. World Wars I and II further increased output during the 20th century. However, the nation's surplus of vessels amassed after World War II dampened world demand for new construction and forced the shutdown of most U.S. shipbuilding capacity.
Later, the Cold War spurred new naval construction. Large and sustained investments in core technologies, coupled with continuing major efforts in research and development programs, pushed the industry to new heights, and American shipbuilders again assumed a preeminent position, producing the world's most sophisticated, capable, and complex warships. The sheer strength of domestic (primarily U.S. Navy) demand in this industry provided sufficient activity so that American shipbuilders did not have to compete in the international market.
The end of the Cold War, however, brought a dramatic decline in new naval construction and ship-repair requirements, causing the industry as well as its supporting infrastructure to downsize rapidly. Thus, the industry's 30-year concentration on naval construction diminished its commercial shipbuilding ability and posed a major challenge to its reentry into the international shipbuilding arena. The decline poses a significant problem not only from the standpoint of national security, but also economically. Since the naval buildup of the 1980s, 75,500 production jobs have been lost in the shipbuilding and repair industry, more than a 50 percent decline. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. shipbuilding and repair industry employed only 63,900 production workers in mid-2001.
American Shipbuilding Policy
During the early 1990s, the administration and Congress instituted several programs to aid the U.S. shipbuilding industry. The cornerstone of the administration's plan was the National Shipbuilding and Shipyard Conversion Act of 1993, included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 1993 (Public Law 102-484). That legislation expanded the existing Title XI Federal Ship Financing Program by authorizing the Secretary of Transportation to guarantee obligations issued to finance the construction, reconstruction, or reconditioning of eligible export vessels. It also authorized guarantees for shipyard modernization and improvement of U.S. shipyard facilities.
The Shipyard Act also established a National Shipbuilding Initiative (NSI) program to help the industrial base meet several national security objectives. Following are updates on MARAD's major activities under NSI:
Financing Ship Sales Through Title XI Loan Guarantees. The Title XI program, authorized under the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 and administered by MARAD, assists the U.S. shipbuilding and repair industry in developing and obtaining the private financing often critical to attracting domestic and foreign buyers.
As modified by the Act, Title XI authorizes MARAD, in addition to its previous authority to guarantee financing for U.S. shipowners of U.S.-built vessels, to guarantee up to 87.5 percent of loans to purchasers of the ships built in U.S. yards (including vessels for export) and loans for modernization of U.S. shipyards. These loans may be amortized over a period of up to 25 years. Terms of the Title XI program would be modified as needed if the United States ratifies the multinational Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Shipbuilding Agreement.
The Title XI loan-guarantee program has been an important factor in improving the ability of U.S. shipyards to obtain shipbuilding contracts. During fiscal year 2001, MARAD approved 12 Title XI financing guarantees amounting to approximately $730 million. The Title XI program continues to attract a substantial level of interest with over $4.8 billion in pending applications and a portfolio of approximately $4.9 billion.
MARITECH. The original MARITECH program was a five-year effort to help revitalize the shipbuilding industry using matching funds to encourage the shipbuilding industry to modernize and preserve the U.S. industrial base. It was led by MARAD, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), as well as the industry. A follow-on program to MARITECH, under the aegis of managers from the Ship Protection Committee of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME), is the Nation- al Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) American Shipbuilding Enterprise (ASE).
National Maritime Resource and Education Center. As the U.S. government's commercial maritime industry advocate, MARAD established the National Maritime Resource and Education Center (NMREC) to assist the U.S. maritime industry in improving its competitiveness, both in the domestic and international commercial marketplace. The Center serves as a major information source and facilitator within the government.
Status of U.S. Shipbuilding
In October 2001, a total of 48 oceangoing vessels, over 1,000 gross tons, were on order in U.S. shipyards: 32 Navy ships and 16 commercial ships.
Commercial. Merchant shipbuilding has seen a recent boom in the United States. New shipbuilding orders include one car/truck carrier for Pasha Hawaii Transport at Halter Marine, Pascagoula, two double-hull tankers for Polar Tankers at Northrop Grumman Avondale Operations, and one double-hull tanker for British Petroleum at National Steel & Shipbuilding (NASSCO). The Northrop Grumman Avondale Operations and NASSCO tankers will carry crude oil from Alaska to ports on the West Coast. Deliveries during 2001 included one 300-passenger coastal cruise ship, Cape May Light, from Atlantic Marine in Jacksonville for American Classic Voyages, and one double-hull tanker, Polar Endeavor, for Polar Tankers at Northrop Grumman Avondale Operations
In addition to the above oceangoing vessels, a MARAD survey of the U.S. shipbuilding industry showed that, as of April 2001, there were approximately 175 additional nonoceangoing commercial vessels over 100 gross tons on order. These vessels consist mostly of offshore supply vessels, various types of tugs, catamarans (including low wake/fast ferries), patrol boats, and lift boats. A number of U.S. shipyards also are constructing approximately 390 barges of various types.
The U.S. shipbuilding and repair industry invested more than $568 million in 2000 to upgrade yard facilities and improve production processes. Over the past decade the industry has made capital investments in excess of $2.8 billion. Preliminary numbers indicate that in 2001 the industry could invest more than $393 million in capital improvement, expansion, and modernization projects.
Title XI financing has been a key factor in many of the U.S. shipbuilding and shipyard modernization projects listed above.
Military. The Navy shipbuilding program for the years 2001--2004 is expected to fund a total of 32 ships--an average of eight ships per year. This is a sharp decline from the 1980s when annual construction averaged 19 ships per year. The four-year plan includes eight conversions, one nuclear carrier refueling, and nine SLEPs (service-life extension programs).
The Navy's sealift construction program provides additional work for U.S. shipbuilders. In October 2001, three new LMSR (large, medium-speed, roll- on/roll-off) sealift ships (T-AKRs 305-306 and T-AKR 317) were on order, two with Northrop Grumman Avondale Operations and one with NASSCO. Deliveries are scheduled through 2002.
World Shipbuilding
In March 2001, the world order book for commercial vessels consisted of 2,735 vessels over 1,000 gross tons, an increase of 11.8 percent from March 2000. South Korean shipyards accounted for 41 percent of the gross tonnage on order; Japan ranked second with 26.1 percent, followed by the People's Republic of China with 7.3 percent. The United States ranked ninth with 1.5 percent of the gross tonnage on order.
Orders for new-construction commercial vessels can be expected to increase beyond the year 2001. Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd. projects total worldwide demand between 1999 and 2008 in the range of 200 million compensated gross tons (cgt) compared to 125 million cgt in the 1988--1997 period, due primarily to the need to replace a large number of vessels built in the 1970s.
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which requires that all tankers operating in U.S. territorial waters after 2015 be double-hulled, has spurred a dramatic increase in double-hull construction. Approximately 1,500 tankers enter U.S. waters each year. Construction of very large crude carriers also will increase so that aging ships (those built before 1980) can be replaced.
United States Shipping
As of April 2001, the U.S.-flag cargo-carrying merchant fleet included 264 self-propelled oceangoing vessels (1,000 gross tons and over) as well as 70 Great Lakes vessels including integrated tug barges. It also consisted of over 37,000 other cargo ships, tugs, barges, passenger ships, and other vessels in domestic waterborne trade. The United States ranked 12th in the world in the deadweight tonnage of its operational oceangoing commercial ships. The U.S.-flag share of America's seaborne foreign trade carried decreased in 2000 to 2.6 percent (from 3.0 percent in 1999). The U.S.-flag percentage of liner trade decreased from 8.8 percent to 8.4 percent in the same period.
Even though the number of U.S.-flag oceangoing ships has declined in recent years, the productivity of the fleet has improved substantially. The average capacity of liner vessels in the U.S.-flag fleet today is over 34,000 deadweight tons (dwt). Fleet productivity also has been enhanced by the development of state-of-the-art intermodal systems that provide seamless, door-to-door, just-in-time transportation worldwide. These advances also have been applied to the movement of military shipments and have resulted in significantly improved coordination and speed in delivery of Department of Defense (DOD) cargoes.
Commercial shipping continues to be critical to the well-being of the U.S. economy for both economic and defense reasons, as recent events have repeatedly emphasized. Recent bilateral negotiations led by MARAD, and buttressed by Federal Maritime Commission investigations, have sought to open shipping markets in Japan, China, and Brazil and to ensure nondiscriminatory treatment of U.S. carriers, shippers, and consumers. These negotiations were possible only because the United States has a merchant fleet of its own. The same is true of the new U.S. maritime agreement with Russia, signed by Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta and his Russian counterpart in June 2001.
Because of higher U.S. construction, maintenance, environmental, and safety standards, it almost always costs more to operate U.S.-flag vessels than it does to operate foreign-flag ships. There is limited direct U.S. government assistance to help support a minimal liner fleet.
Since 1904 the Congress has enacted a series of so-called "cargo-preference laws" to provide the economic incentive to shipowners to maintain their U.S. registry. When the government provides a benefit to help American industry export U.S.-made products, it establishes a "quid pro quo" requiring a certain portion of the exports to be carried on U.S.-flag vessels, when such vessels are available at fair and reasonable rates. Two or more industries therefore are assisted at the same time. Cargo-preference laws generate about $950 million per year of base-cargo revenue for U.S.-flag vessels. The government recaptures a portion of the added cost through taxes on the total gross revenue and on the taxes generated as that total gross revenue flows through the American economy. Without the combination of the limited direct subsidy discussed below and the cargo-preference laws, the already diminished U.S.-flag foreign trade fleet would disappear entirely.
Domestic Shipping. The effective water transport of U.S. national cargoes within the United States is the backbone of the U.S. national maritime security system. Domestic waterborne shipping provides more than 124,000 direct jobs to the U.S. economy, including 80,170 vessel billets and 17,247 shipyard jobs. The workers in those jobs constitute a critical national resource and could be used in alternative transportation or war-production jobs in the event of a national security emergency.
MARAD continues to promote the increased use of water transportation via three important programs. The Coastal Highway Program strives to relieve congestion and reduce air emissions on America's highways and railways by seeking an alternative to the present land-based transportation systems. The Container on Barge Program aims to increase the freight-carrying capacity of U.S. inland waterways by moving containers on barges, complementing truck and rail lines. The Small Vessel Waiver Program provides waivers of the U.S.-build requirement of the cabotage laws for small passenger vessels, carrying 12 or fewer passengers, provided there is no adverse effect on domestic business.
MARAD continues to emphasize the importance of the Jones Act to America's national security by, among other things, guaranteeing U.S. control of essential transportation assets in both peace and war. The Jones Act ensures that U.S.-owned, -crewed, and -built ships will be available to transport domestic cargo during a national emergency. MARAD is proactive in the advancement of Jones Act trade by providing a compliance assistance program to shippers looking for coastal-qualified U.S.-flag vessels.
Global Shipping. For many years, the international liner industry has been in tumult, for a number of reasons: vessel capacity growth exceeded cargo volume increases, driving rates down; low-cost carriers upgraded services but continued to offer lower rates; and shippers, anxious to remain globally competitive, continually demanded more service. As a result, carriers have been emphasizing vigorous cost-reduction efforts.
Carriers have responded to these pressures in several ways, including engaging in mergers and acquisitions and forming global strategic alliances. Through operational cooperation, carriers have the opportunity to reduce costs and business risks, while offering a broader range of improved customer service options. The emergence of global markets, the improved service of nonconference carriers, and the deregulatory impact of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998 are factors that have influenced global liner shipping.
Maritime Security Program
The continued existence of a privately owned U.S.-flag merchant marine is vital to the nation's military and economic security. During national emergencies, there is no completely reliable alternative to the U.S.-flag fleet of commercial ships and to the availability of trained U.S. citizen crews.
Nearly 80 percent of the military dry cargo transported during the Persian Gulf conflict was carried on U.S.-flag ships, and more than 30 percent was carried on commercial U.S.-flag ships as part of normal liner operations or under time-charter to the Department of Defense, with no disruption to commercial service. All of the U.S.-flag ships used by DOD during these sealift operations were totally crewed by U.S. citizens.
U.S. economic security also benefits from the participation of the U.S.- flag fleet in the movement of U.S. international trade. Without a U.S.-flag fleet, the United States, the largest consumer market in the world, as well as thousands of U.S. importers and exporters, would become entirely dependent on foreign entities for transportation. The presence of a privately owned U.S.-flag fleet provides an alternative to foreign-flag carriers, some of which are government-owned or -controlled or have close affiliations with firms in their own countries that compete with U.S. businesses.
The Maritime Security Act (MSA) of 1996 (Public Law 104-239) established the Maritime Security Program (MSP) under Title VIA, Subtitle B, of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 (the 1936 Act). This maritime program is intended to ensure that an active U.S. merchant fleet, and the trained personnel needed to operate both active and reserve vessels, will be available to meet national security requirements for sealift capacity. In addition, the MSP ensures America's continued presence in intermodal commerce and provides a competitive bulwark against predatory pricing by foreign carriers in the movement of U.S. import and export commerce.
The MSA established a 10-year, 47-ship program providing fixed annual federal support payments of $2.1 million per vessel, subject to annual appropriations, to participant companies. These payments partially offset the higher costs of operating U.S.-flag liner ships in international trade.
The MSP provides the DOD with "assured access" to approximately 120,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) of MSP participants' ship capacity and other intermodal assets. It substantially deregulated previous operating restrictions placed on U.S. liner operators receiving direct federal support.
The MSP helps fulfill national goals to, among other things:
Foster and maintain a U.S. merchant marine capable of meeting economic and national security requirements;
Improve the vitality and competitiveness of the U.S. foreign-trade liner fleet and the U.S. citizen seafarers who serve on board those ships;
Slow the precipitous decrease in the number of ships in the U.S.-flag fleet;
Stabilize the number of mariners available to crew U.S. merchant vessels;
Achieve adequate manning of merchant vessels for national security needs during mobilization; and
Guarantee that the United States maintains the capability to respond unilaterally to security threats in geographic areas not covered by alliance commitments and otherwise meets sealift requirements in the event of crisis or war.
Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement
The MSA directed the establishment of an Emergency Preparedness Program. Under MARAD's delegated authority in the Defense Production Act of 1950 and the 1936 Act, as amended, MARAD, in consultation with DOD and the maritime industry, developed the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA). The Secretary of Defense approved VISA in January 1997 for incorporation in DOD planning as a sealift readiness program.
VISA's objective is to provide vessel capacity, intermodal movement, and cargo management for shipment of DOD emergency cargoes. It serves as the mechanism that assures the movement of ammunition and resupply ("sustainment") cargo, and complements DOD's organic sealift capabilities used for the initial-deployment ("surge") phase of a military action. VISA can be activated in three stages, as determined by DOD, with each stage representing a higher level of capacity commitment. Currently, Stage I requires 15 percent of total enrolled capacity; Stage II requires 40 percent; and Stage III requires 15 percent from MSP vessels and other vessels receiving federal subsidy, and 50 percent from the remaining VISA participants. To ensure coordination in planning and execution, VISA provides for a Joint Planning Advisory Group, co-chaired by MARAD and the U.S. Transportation Command, to discuss DOD requirements.
Under the terms of VISA, participating carriers are required to sign contingency agreements with DOD which commit the appropriate portion of their sealift capacity and intermodal equipment and determine a rate methodology.
During VISA activation, participants may implement approved carrier coordination agreements to meet the needs of the Department of Defense and to minimize the disruption of their services to the economy. VISA provides a participant a defense to any civil or criminal action brought under antitrust laws with respect to actions taken to carry out VISA requirements.
One of the goals of VISA is to ensure that sufficient civilian maritime resources will be available to meet DOD deployment and essential economic requirements in support of the U.S. national security strategy.
The MSP and VISA programs will slow the decline of the U.S.-flag merchant fleet, but by themselves will not reverse the continuing trend of a reduced U.S.-flag presence in international ocean transportation.
In addition to the benefits provided by MSP and VISA, another feature of the MSA provides that U.S. merchant mariners who are employed in the activation or operation of government strategic sealift ships in a contingency may enjoy the same reemployment rights long ago extended to military Reservists and Guardsmen.
Ready Reserve Force
The Ready Reserve Force (RRF) ensures that the nation can maintain the surge capability needed to respond unilaterally to security threats in geographic areas not covered by NATO or other alliance commitments and to meet other national sealift requirements in the event of crisis or war. The RRF fleet guarantees quick-response shipping with 76 vessels designed to meet special military requirements such as instream discharge, non-unit containerizable equipment, or offshore petroleum delivery.
MARAD keeps RRF ships in designated states of readiness (as determined by DOD) to enable them to be activated in 4, 5, 10, or 20 days to meet military surge sealift requirements. To respond quickly to military emergencies in any area of the world, RRF vessels in higher states of readiness--called Reduced Operating Status (ROS)--are outported with small but highly trained crews on board. Vessels in 10- or 20-day readiness status are berthed in one of the National Defense Reserve Fleet sites.
The RRF meets or exceeds every measure of reliability and performance. During fiscal year 2001, the operational reliability of ships activated from the RRF was 99.3 percent over 2,069 operational days. All 19 of the RRF vessels activated under "no-notice" criteria were available to DOD within the assigned time requirements.
In recent years, RRF vessels have provided DOD with needed surge and sustainment sealift during several operations involving U.S., NATO, U.N., and other allied forces. Those include Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm/Desert Sortie in 19901991, when MARAD activated 79 RRF vessels to transport urgently needed supplies and materials to the Persian Gulf. The RRF also has supported operations in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Croatia, Australia, South Korea, and Central America, as well as returning to the Persian Gulf.
In 2001 the RRF participated in a number of notable operations:
January-February: SS Cape Girardeau was the first RRF Modular Cargo Delivery System (MCDS) ship to conduct underway-replenishment activities with an aircraft carrier battle group.
March 2001: In exercise Tandem Thrust, SS Cape Isabel transported equipment and supplies to Japan and Australia during the annual training of military Reservists.
Cape Hudson was activated for Exercise Cobra Gold, to lift equipment and ammunition containers, sail to Alaska and Washington State to take on Army equipment, and proceed to Hawaii to pick up more cargo before steaming to Okinawa to load U.S. Marine Corps ammunition. Cobra Gold 2001 is one of the largest exercises involving U.S. forces in the Pacific Command.
SS Curtiss was activated for a month-long exercise, Pacific Provider, testing the combined abilities of the West Coast Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron (MALS) to provide aviation logistic support to a Marine Expeditionary Force. Marines practiced receiving Harrier parts onboard ship, making repairs, and sending the parts back to the squadron.
Spring-Summer: Turbo Containerization Ammunition Distribution System 01/Joint Logistics Over the Shore 01 (Turbo CADS01/JLOTS 01): Turbo CADS 01/JLOTS 01 is a joint exercise which tested the ability of U.S. forces to work with the Republic of Korea to efficiently deploy military unit equipment. SS Cape Mohican, SS Flickertail State, and SS Chesapeake supported this operation.
Chesapeake successfully completed the JLOTS exercise objectives by pumping 3,500,000 gallons of simulated cargo (fresh water) to the beach. Upon completion of the exercise, Chesapeake assumed Afloat Prepositioning Force (APF) duty in Diego Garcia, relieving the SS Potomac.
April: A Sealift Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise (SEDRE), Dragon Team 01: Cape Douglas was loaded out in Savannah, Ga., to support this exercise.
May 25: Eight RRF vessels received no-notice activations for Turbo Act 03: SS Equality State (ROS-4), SS Cape Blanco (ROS-5), SS Cape Gibson (ROS-5), SS Chattahoochee (RRF-10), SS Alatna (RRF-10), SS Cape Trinity (ROS-4), SS Cape Victory (ROS 4), and SS Cape May (ROS-5).
SS Potomac returned to the Beaumont Reserve Fleet, after concluding a historic 10-year deployment and service to the Afloat Prepositioning Force (APF). A ceremony honoring the ship and its exemplary record of service occurred 26 June 2001 in Galveston, Texas, at the Texas Maritime Academy. The vessel was activated for Operation Desert Shield in 1990 and was on station overseas for over 10 years participating in sorties, exercises, and training evolutions. SS Potomac assisted in the humanitarian Rwandan food relief effort, bringing both food and potable water to an area devastated by famine. After assisting again in Bosnia, the Potomac earned the U.S. Navy's "E" for excellence ship award during convoy exercises in the Indian Ocean.
War Risk Insurance
MARAD administers the standby emergency War Risk Insurance Program in accordance with the statutory authority of Title XII of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, as amended. The program encourages the continued flow of U.S. foreign commerce during periods when commercial insurance cannot be obtained on reasonable terms and conditions. It protects vessel operators and seafarers against losses resulting from war or warlike actions. The program was activated in 1990 for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, during which war-risk insurance policies were written on 388 military contracted vessels; the Navy estimated that the program saved the government over $436 million in premium costs. The program also was successfully activated during operations in Somalia and Haiti.
The U.S. Port System
U.S. ports play a major role in economic development and national security. U.S. ports are a vital link in that economic chain. The national economic benefits associated with the movement of foreign and domestic waterborne commerce are significant. Throughout the economy, this activity creates 13.1 million jobs, contributes $743 billion to the gross domestic product, and provides almost $200 billion in federal, state, and local taxes. U.S. ports handle more than two billion tons of foreign and domestic trade, and serve as critical interchange points within the nation's intermodal transportation system.
With recent changes in the U.S. national defense strategy and the downsizing of the U.S. military, greater reliance will be placed on the U.S. port system for the deployment of forces in times of national emergency.
MARAD works with industry and other federal agencies to assist in addressing the critical challenges that lie ahead. Decisive issues confronting U.S. ports include expanding and modernizing facilities, securing improvement funding and financing, improving port security, complying with ever stricter environmental regulations, improving intermodal access, and dredging and disposing of waste.
Many maritime experts expect the nation's waterborne trade to double in the next 20 years. To meet this projected growth, ports must expand their terminal facilities. MARAD administers a program that conveys surplus federal property to state and local public entities for the development and operation of port facilities. The purpose of this program is to create jobs, revitalize local economies, and increase port capacity. Since the program's inception, MARAD has approved five conveyance applications transferring nearly 900 acres of property for port development.
Port Readiness
MARAD is the permanent chair of the National Port Readiness Network (NPRN), a coalition of nine federal agencies and organizations directly responsible for supporting the deployment of military forces through U.S. ports during contingencies and defense emergencies. MARAD and DOD cooperatively determine the status of strategic ports with port planning orders and engage in port terminal facility site planning as well as annual port-readiness exercises. MARAD serves as the strategic liaison for commercial port operations during actual national defense emergencies.
CCDoTT
MARAD, in partnership with the U.S. Transportation Command and California State University, Long Beach, manages the Center for the Commercial Deployment of Transportation Technologies (CCDoTT), which serves as the focal point of an innovative program to demonstrate agile port and high-speed sealift technologies.
The demonstrated technologies, if implemented, will not only help the military deploy quickly but also expand the ability of commercial transportation to accommodate military surge cargo and minimize disruptions to commercial transportation.
Intermodal Transportation Access
The U.S. economy, international competitiveness, and national security all are increasingly dependent on the effectiveness of the intermodal transportation system. Intermodal connections between U.S. transportation modes are typically the weakest links in the national transportation system. As the land-water transportation interface, U.S. ports and terminals are the pivotal links for the movement of U.S. international trade. Approximately 95 percent of America's overseas international trade, measured by volume, passes through U.S. ports. The nation's international waterborne freight is growing at brisk rates as the 10 percent increase in container traffic last year reflects. This unprecedented growth in international freight poses an enormous challenge of ensuring continued and unimpeded access to U.S. ports by both land and sea.
MTS
As a result of federally sponsored listening sessions about the Marine Transportation System (MTS), principal stakeholders clearly expressed a desire to discuss mutual problems. From this effort a government-wide Interagency Committee on the MTS was formed. The committee is comprised of 18 federal agencies. Additionally, a National Advisory Council (MTSNAC) of 30 members representing industry and state and local port authorities has been created. The MTSNAC reports directly to the Secretary of Transportation on the condition and needs of the MTS. The council recently issued a White Paper on the Marine Transportation System that highlights those areas of the system which most need improvement so that the MTS can handle the anticipated doubling of U.S. international trade by the year 2020. The council also established six teams to target areas for improved performance within the marine transportation system: awareness; infrastructure; safety and the environment; information technology; human resources; and security.
TEA-21
MARAD is participating in a DOT-wide program called "One DOT" to carry out initiatives in meeting national transportation goals. One such initiative is the development of an analysis framework to assess the adequacy of the nation's transportation system to meet anticipated cargo demand. Led by the Federal Highway Administration, the initiative focuses on U.S. trade flows and their implications for national transportation networks, specific freight corridors, and the international gateways that carry heavy cargo volumes. This initiative will study freight needs and work toward reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21).
Innovation Through Partnered Research and Technology
MARAD works with industry and government to assist with assimilating innovative ideas and developments into the U.S. Maritime Transportation System to improve its efficiency and effectiveness. In November 1999 MARAD sponsored an MTS Research and Development Coordination Conference to highlight ongoing maritime-related research and promote new developments. The government-industry partnership is achieving its goal of improving maritime transportation through the synergistic efforts of its many participants. Ongoing focused "Cooperative Programs" are helping to bring potential innovations to fruition. Some of MARAD's efforts include:
Cargo Handling Cooperative Program. The purpose of the Cargo Handling Cooperative Program (CHCP) is to increase the productivity of U.S. marine freight transportation companies through cargo-handling research and development. A public-private partnership, the CHCP is designed to pursue innovative, cost-effective, cargo-handling developments. The principal focus is on the use of advanced technologies in infrastructure design, seamless international-transportation networks, and more efficient communication and information flows.
Ship Operations Cooperative Program. The Ship Operations Cooperative Program (SOCP) brings together U.S.-based maritime organizations to address common problems and to develop products that satisfy its members' common needs. Members work in unison to achieve improved safety, efficiency, and environmental protection of ship operations. Projects include collaborative work on the International Maritime Information Safety System (IMISS); video and CD-ROM productions on topics directly related to Standards of Training, Certifica- tion, and Watchkeeping Convention (STCW); mariner training requirements; and Alternative Watch Schedules. Additionally, SOCP has introduced technologies with the potential for reducing the costs of maintaining shipboard equipment as well as preventing equipment failure.
International Maritime Information Safety System (IMISS). MARAD continues to work with the U.S. Coast Guard and the maritime industry to develop and implement a voluntary safety reporting system for the maritime industry. The IMISS system would work in a manner similar to the Aviation Safety Reporting System, or ASRS, which has over two decades of experience in providing confidentiality for reporters while applying their reports to significantly improve aviation safety. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which administers the ASRS system, is helping develop the maritime system. Since accidents are very rare events, reports of unsafe situations provide much of the information needed to identify problem areas and prevent accidents before they occur.
Department of Transportation Fatigue Initiative. MARAD continues to work closely with its sister agencies through the Department's Safety Council and Human Factors Coordinating Committee on an "Operator Fatigue Management" initiative. An August 2000 conference introduced the initiative and highlighted activities in industry to apply the science of human factors and fatigue countermeasures to reduce the effects of human fatigue and lowered alertness on safety and efficiency. Several research contracts awarded last summer promise to advance the state of the art and provide an in-depth best-practices catalog that details various tools and approaches that can be used by industry to manage fatigue under the varying conditions existing in the different sectors of each mode of transportation.
Maritime Labor and Training. The importance of labor to U.S. economic growth and national security is reflected in MARAD's commitment to foster a sufficient, well-qualified, and safety-conscious maritime work force. Through support of programs to improve the education, training, health, welfare, and safety of U.S. citizen-seafarers, MARAD is working to ensure the availability of an adequate number of mariners to crew active U.S.-flag commercial vessels during peacetime and in emergencies, as well as RRF ships activated for sealift or humanitarian-assistance missions.
Employment of oceangoing seafarers, including licensed and unlicensed mariners aboard privately owned subsidized and nonsubsidized shipping, totaled 6,542 jobs in August 1998, a decline from 6,871 a year earlier. The ratio of seafarers to deep-sea sailing workforce jobs remained the same, about 2.3 (mariners sailing for each shipboard job). Overall, the number of mariners and officers decreased to 16,000. Total employment of longshoremen in Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf Coast, and Great Lakes ports rose slightly, to 23,588.
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
The Merchant Marine Academy offers a four-year undergraduate program that leads to a Bachelor of Science Degree and a merchant marine license as a Third Mate or Third Assistant Engineer, or a dual license. In addition, students are enrolled as midshipmen and are commissioned upon graduation as ensigns in the U.S. Naval Reserve. The Academy's significance as a world-renowned institution of maritime education cannot be overestimated. Not only does the Academy produce highly qualified officers for the merchant marine, but it is also a major source of inactive-duty Naval Reserve officers. In peacetime, Academy graduates create and operate efficient, cost-effective marine transportation systems. In times of conflict, Academy graduates crew the ships that support America's armed forces.
The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, dedicated in 1943, is recognized worldwide as an outstanding maritime educational institution, graduating approximately 180 licensed officers yearly. The Academy is a tuition-free four-year accredited college operated by the Maritime Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Candidates for admission must be nominated by a congressman or senator and must compete for vacancies allocated by state in proportion to its representation in Congress. Current enrollment is approximately 950. In 1974 the Academy became the first of the federal academies to admit women.
All Academy graduates incur an eight-year U.S. Naval Reserve commitment, obligating them to serve in time of war or national emergency, if activated. Academy graduates also are committed to a five-year maritime service obligation, requiring them to obtain a merchant marine officer's license on or before graduation and to maintain the license for at least six years. This service obligation may be satisfied as an officer aboard U.S. merchant ships, or, with the permission of the U.S. Maritime Administration, in shoreside maritime or intermodal transportation industry positions if afloat employment is not obtainable. Active military duty in any branch of the armed forces also satisfies the obligation.
The Academy has kept its educational program responsive to the needs of America's maritime industry and to U.S. national security requirements, both in its four-year undergraduate curriculum and in its continuing education program. Students receive B.S. degrees in the following areas of study: marine transportation; marine engineering; marine engineering systems; the marine operations and technology program, which provides the marine transportation major with some fundamental engineering skills; the dual-license program, which fully integrates the marine transportation and engineering curriculum; logistics and intermodal transportation; or the marine engineering and shipyard management program. Over the years, new emphasis has been placed on important emerging areas in the industry. The breadth of coursework and hands-on training prepares graduates to become not only merchant mariners, but also leaders in the maritime industry.
Superintendent: Rear Adm. Joseph D. Stewart, USMS.
Nomination Information: Candidates should contact their congressman or senator and request nominations at the end of their junior year of high school. Completed applications must be received by the 1 March deadline, and candidates must qualify scholastically and physically. Eligibility considerations include high school academic records, class rank, SAT or ACT scores, and leadership potential.
Costs: Upon entrance, each midshipman pays a fee of $5,700 to cover student activities, personal services, and the cost of a personal computer. Fees for subsequent years range between $1,600 and $2,100 per year.
Financial Aid: Pay received by a midshipman is $600 a month during two training periods aboard ship. While the Academy does not offer financial aid, its Financial Aid Office can assist students with identifying and applying for assistance from external student loan sources.
For more information contact:
Office of Admissions
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
Steamboat Road
Kings Point, NY 110241699
Phone: (516) 7735391 or (800) 7326267
Fax: (516) 7735390
Website: www.usmma.edu
State Maritime Academies
The six state maritime academies conduct training and offer academic programs that yield highly skilled deck and engineering officers for employment in the U.S. Merchant Marine. In addition to training engineering and deck officers, individual schools specialize in maritime port management, marine sciences, international business, logistics, and other maritime- related areas of study. By authority of the Maritime Education and Training Act of 1980, MARAD provides annual funding for student assistance, school-ship maintenance and repair, and training-ship fuel oil (when available) to the six state academies.
Qualified students are eligible, at a total federal program cost of $1.2 million per year, to receive student incentive payments (SIPs) of $3,000 annually, for no more than four academic years, to offset the cost of uniforms, books, and subsistence. In return, SIP recipients must sail, or work in maritime-related employment ashore, for three years, accept a commission in the Naval Reserve or other reserve component of the U.S. armed forces (making these qualified seafarers available for sealift support), and obtain a U.S. Coast Guard merchant marine officer's license. They must maintain that license for six years after graduation.
MARAD also provides training vessels to the five coastal academies for use in at-sea training and as shoreside laboratories. These training ships are critical to the ability of the state maritime academy programs to familiarize students with ship systems and to train them in ship safety, fire fighting, and damage control. The training ships ensure that students are able to gain the practical experience of living and working aboard ship and are able to put to sea more safely. Two of the training ships are part of the RRF.
California Maritime Academy
Located on San Francisco Bay, the California Maritime Academy is a campus of the California State University offering accredited degrees in Business Administration, Marine Transportation, Facilities Engineering Technology, Marine Engineering Technology, and Mechanical Engineering. In addition to Bachelor of Science degrees, students earn professional licensing in one of several areas: Third Mate or Third Assistant Engineer, U.S. Coast Guard; Certified Plant Engineer-in-Training, Association for Facilities Engineering; or professional certification in transportation, management, or international business and logistics. A program of intellectual learning, applied technology, and leadership development prepares graduates for positions of significant responsibility in the areas of maritime, business, logistics, intermodal transportation, and engineering. Students also can opt to participate in U.S. Navy and Coast Guard programs and receive commissions upon graduation.
For more information, contact:
California Maritime Academy
200 Maritime Academy Drive
Vallejo, CA 945900644
Phone: (707) 6541330
Fax: (707) 6541336
E-mail: info@csum.edu
Website: www.csum.edu
Great Lakes Maritime Academy
An affiliate of Northwestern Michigan College (NMC), the Great Lakes Maritime Academy has been jointly designated by the U.S. Maritime Administrator and the governors of the states touching on the Great Lakes as a regional academy in support of the Great Lakes shipping industry. Deck officer graduates are legally and professionally qualified to serve as pilots of the largest bulk carriers in the Great Lakes trade immediately upon graduation. Engineering officer graduates are specifically trained to operate and maintain shipboard equipment unique to the industry as well as all other machinery and systems commonly found aboard ships worldwide.
A four-year degree option is available for Maritime Academy students through Ferris State University, leading to a B.S. degree in business administration, and is conducted concurrently with the maritime program entirely at the Academy/NMC/University campuses in Traverse City, Mich.
For more information contact:
Admissions Coordinator
Great Lakes Maritime Academy
1701 E. Front Street
Traverse City, MI 496863061
Phone: (231) 9951200
Fax: (231) 9951318
E-mail: jurokos@nmc.edu
Website: www.nmc.edu/maritime
Maine Maritime Academy
Maine's seafaring heritage thrives at Maine Maritime Academy, a college specializing in ocean- and marine-oriented programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, with emphasis on engineering, transportation, management, and ocean sciences, as well as preparing officers for the U.S. Merchant Marine and uniformed services of the United States.
Maine Maritime Academy is a coeducational public college with an enrollment of more than 700 students. The college currently offers A.S., B.S., and M.S. degrees in 10 fields of study. Undergraduate majors include: Small Vessel Operations, International Business and Logistics, Marine Engineering Operations, Marine Engineering Technology, Marine Systems Engineering, Marine Transportation Operations, Ocean Studies, and Power Engineering Technology. The graduate degree program of the college's Loeb-Sullivan School of International Business and Logistics offers an M.S. degree in Maritime Management, or Logistics Management.
The Ocean Institute, Maine Maritime's division of continuing education, offers courses and services for professional mariners on the college campus in Castine, Maine. Individual courses are offered at company-selected training sites in the United States or abroad.
For more information, contact:
Office of Admissions
Maine Maritime Academy
Castine, ME 04420
Phone: (207) 3262206; 1 (800) 4646565 (Maine); 1 (800) 2278465 (Out-of-State)
Fax: (207) 3262515
E-mail: admissions@mma.edu
Website: www.mainemaritime.edu
Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Founded in 1891, the Massachusetts Maritime Academy is a four-year, accredited, coeducational college that prepares graduates for careers both at sea and ashore. The college offers students five academic majors: Marine Engineering, Marine Transportation, Facilities and Environmental Engineering, International Maritime Business, and Marine Safety and Environmental Protection. A five-year program offering a dual major in marine engineering and marine transportation also is available. The Academy also offers six academic concentrations: business management, electrical power, facilities and environmental engineering, marine fisheries, marine transportation, and mechanical engineering.
For more information, contact:
Director of Admissions
101 Academy Drive
Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Academy Drive, Buzzards Bay
Cape Cod, MA 02532
Phone: 1 (800) 5443411
Fax: (508) 8305077
E-mail: Admissions@mma.mass.edu
Website: www.mma.mass.edu
State University of New York Maritime College
Founded in 1874 as the New York Nautical School, SUNY Maritime College, located at Fort Schuyler, the Bronx, N.Y., is the oldest of the state maritime colleges. The primary mission of the college is to prepare young men and women to become licensed U.S. Merchant Marine officers (third mate or third assistant engineer) and to assume industry leadership positions afloat and ashore.
Course work in preparation for B.S. or B.E. degrees is offered in marine engineering, marine electrical and electronic systems engineering, marine operations, facilities engineering, naval architecture, the humanities, marine transportation, and marine environmental sciences. An AAS degree is offered in marine technology/small vessel operations. An M.S. degree also is offered in transportation management.
For more information, contact:
Director of Admissions
State University of New York
Maritime College
6 Pennyfield Avenue, Fort Schuyler
Throggs Neck, NY 10465
Phone: (718) 4097220
Website: www.sunymaritime.edu
Texas Maritime Academy
At Texas A&M University at Galveston, the ocean is the classroom. Ocean voyages, sailing in Galveston Bay, beachfront experiments, and independent study complement the rigorous classroom experience at Texas A&M University at Galveston.
Texas A&M University at Galveston is a totally ocean-oriented campus offering academic degrees, research, continuing education programs, and public service in marine science, engineering, business, and transportation. TAMUG provides undergraduate academic instruction in seven marine and maritime-related degree programs in marine biology, marine sciences (oceanography), marine engineering technology, marine transportation, marine fisheries, maritime systems engineering (ocean/civil), maritime administration (policy/business), ocean and coastal resources (environmental studies), and maritime studies.
For more information, contact:
Office of Student Relations
Texas A&M University at Galveston
P. O. Box 1675
Galveston, TX 775531675
Phone: 187SEAAGGIE (toll-free)
Fax: (409) 7404731
E-mail: seaaggie@tamug.tamu.edu
Website: www.tamug.tamu.edu
Maritime Issues and Challenges
During the past few decades, the most significant development in the world economy has been the globalization of economic activities. In order to maximize profits and minimize cost, businesses are obtaining their products from countries that have low labor and supply costs. This practice provides more frequent and longer- distance transportation services and encourages carriers to provide a wider range of integrated and intermodal transportation services that are cost-effective, timely, reliable, and can be tracked door-to-door.
The expansion of global trade has placed increased demands on U.S. ports, intermodal connectors, and surface transportation systems. With over 95 percent of the nation's overseas trade carried by water, and that trade projected to double within the next 20 years, existing capacity must be expanded. Now, more than ever before, maritime transportation strategies must carefully balance passenger and freight needs, protect the environment, and ensure the security and safety of the transportation system to support U.S. economic growth.
The Maritime Administration believes that the United States must have a strong and vigorous maritime industry to support national defense and ensure the economic security of the nation. The strategic goals of the Maritime Administration envision a competitive U.S.-flag fleet to transport domestic and international waterborne commerce, a domestic shipbuilding industry that prospers in the domestic and international marketplace, and a technologically advanced maritime transportation infrastructure.
Working together, the federal government and the maritime community must move forward to ensure that the United States maintains a commercial maritime industry adequate to meet the economic and national-security needs of the nation.
Additional Information on the U.S. Maritime Administration may be obtained from:
Office of Congressional and Public Affairs
Maritime Administration
400 Seventh Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20590
Phone: (202) 3665807 or (800) 99MARAD
Fax: (202)3665063
E-mail: pao.marad@marad.dot.gov
Website: http://www.marad.dot.gov
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