Transportation Program News

Like many ports, the Alaskan Port of Homer faces aging infrastructure and capital needs well beyond the local funding capacity. The port is a key link in the supply chain for 47 remote, rural, disadvantaged or Alaska Native communities served by Homer, making proposed port infrastructure upgrades critical for shipping statewide as well as for the local community.Enter the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This unprecedented…

It’s amazing to consider that a commercial vessel in the Pacific Ocean, approaching the mouth of the Columbia River, can continue its eastward journey to finally tie up at the Port of Lewiston, in Lewiston, Idaho, America’s most inland West Coast port, 465 miles from the Pacific Ocean.The Columbia and Snake Rivers form that critical east-west waterway, an economic powerhouse regionally, nationally and internationally. According to the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA)…

The end of 2019 promises to be a busy, and potentially discordant, legislative and regulatory period for the United States maritime industry as both Congress and the Executive Branch look to take decisive action, with both positive and negative potential impacts depending on your perspective. With appropriation and authorization bills still pending, and various open regulatory actions, there are significant opportunities for maritime stakeholders to influence policy outcomes.Funding Fights Continue in CongressOn October 31…

Maritime Challenges in the 116th Congress.The 116th Congress, with its now Democrat-controlled House and 110 newly-elected members, faces a choice. On one hand, Congress can continue to pursue the status quo, supporting U.S.-flag vessel operators and domestic port infrastructure development through existing programs, with suboptimal results. On the other, the 116th Congress can choose to be bold. It can recognize that the U.S.-flag fleet, with only 83 vessels operating in international trade, clearly requires new mechanisms of support.

At the Europort 2017 exhibition in Rotterdam, Damen Shipyards Group and Belgian ferry operator Aqualiner signed a contract for the delivery of three more Damen Waterbus 2407 vessels, for operations on the Scheldt in Antwerp. At the signing were Gerbrand Schutten (CEO Aqualiner), Maurice Swets (CEO Aqualiner), Dimitri Romijn (CFO Aqualiner), Arnout Damen (CCO Damen) and Jelle Meindertsma (Sales Manager Damen). The Waterbus 2407 is a new composite design from Damen, first unveiled just over a year ago.

Recently, Aqualiner signed a contract with Damen Shipyards for four Damen Waterbus 2407 vessels. The waterbuses will provide public transport services in the Belgian city of Antwerp, as part of a wider transportation program also including land-based public transport services and road improvement schemes. This is the first order for the new Waterbus 2407. Although new, the Waterbus 2407 is based on proven solutions developed by Damen’s in-house R&D team. The first vessel was delivered from stock…

Crowley Maritime Corporation’s 2016 Thomas B. Crowley Sr. Memorial Scholarships have helped to further educational opportunities for four students of State University of New York (SUNY) Maritime College. The recipients, who will each sail with Crowley this summer, were chosen based on their demonstrated leadership skills, financial need and plans to pursue a career in the towing or petroleum shipping industries after graduation. The awardees are Daniel Press from Middletown, Del.…

San Jacinto College has broken ground along the Port of Houston for its new 45,000-square-foot Maritime Training Center. At the site of 3700 Old Highway 146 in La Porte, stood student Dave Allen, taking in the view of concrete piers that will support San Jacinto College Maritime Training Center, a facility to prepare new mariners and serve as local training site. “This is going to prepare so many people for work in this industry,” said the San Jacinto College maritime student, who is on track for employment with a local maritime company and completes his second internship this year.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Maritime Administration (MARAD), has designated particular ports around the United States as “strategic seaports.”  Strategic seaports are designated because of their ability to support major force and material deployments in times of war and national emergency, based on their proximity to deploying military units and their transportation links close to those units, and varying other capabilities the DOD has deemed important…

Sean Connaughton, Secretary of Transportation for the Commonwealth of Virginia, oversees seven state agencies with more than 9,700 employees and combined annual budgets of $5 billion. But this transportation professional is perhaps best known to MarineNews readers as the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administrator during the second Bush Administration. As U.S. Maritime Administrator, he was responsible for the daily management of that agency and its promotional programs for the marine transportation industry.

Massachusetts Maritime Academy unveils new simulation facilities in newly opened American Bureau of Shipping Information Commons Building. Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) recently hosted the grand opening ceremony for the start-of-the-art, American Bureau of Shipping Information Commons Building, which houses the Academy’s new cutting-edge Full Mission Ship Simulator, supplied by Transas USA Inc. The 42,000 square foot academic building combines maritime tradition with the latest technology in maritime training…

On April 7, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood unveiled a new initiative to move more cargo on the water rather than on crowded U.S. highways. Under the America’s Marine Highway program, the Department’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) will help identify rivers and coastal routes that could carry cargo efficiently, bypassing congested roads around busy ports and reducing greenhouse gases. “For too long, we’ve overlooked the economic and environmental benefits that our waterways and domestic seaports offer as a means of moving freight in this country,” said Secretary LaHood, speaking to transportation professionals at the 7th Annual North American Marine Highways and Logistics Conference in Baltimore, MD. “Moving goods on the water has many advantages: It reduces air pollution.

Corporation last week presented four U.S. midshipmen with Thomas B. Crowley Sr. $10,000. Newark Club in Newark, New Jersey. stars. Rappahannock. his family in 1991. waterfront. Griffin is a senior from Towson, Md. Christian Fellowship Club. while at the academy. with the varsity offshore team and editor of the midshipman newspaper. Crowley has provided scholarship aid to USMMA students since 1993. posses leadership skills identified by the college and by Crowley. but arent formally recognized until December. recipients. of Thomas B. before passing away in 1994. president and CEO.

A Department of Transportation program that helps supply U.S. military forces in the combat theater will continue supporting the Department of Defense and other U.S. government agencies under new contracts announced. Tthe Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MarAd) announced that its all-cargo fleet of fifty-four Ready Reserve Force (RRF) ships will be maintained by nine American owned and operated ship management firms under a new set of contracts that have an estimated total value of $1.9 billion over 10 years. “We have seen first hand that the Ready Reserve Force provides a vital link to the men and women of the armed services by carrying thousands of military vehicles, aircraft and other materiel to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq,” U.S.

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and Crowley Maritime Corporation are pleased to announce that Ronald M. Katims has been appointed as the first holder of the Crowley Chair in Logistics and Intermodal Transportation. The Crowley Chair was established through a $2 million endowment by Crowley Maritime in memory of Thomas B. Crowley, Sr., the late leader of the firm. Katims has had an illustrious career in the port and transportation field. He has extensive senior executive, engineering, and consulting experience in the containerization environment. He has worked for and with many international companies and agencies in the forefront of developing intermodal transportation.

The American Salvage Association (ASA) met last week with eight representatives from the Bureau of Salvage and Rescue, China Ministry of Transportation, as well as other related groups from China, to exchange information about how the ASA represents its professional salvage company members in the United States, and how China manages its salvage and transportation program. Leading the delegation was Mr. Wang Zhenliang, Deputy Executive Director of the Bureau of Salvage and Rescue, China Ministry of Transportation. Ms. Diana Zhang, the delegation’s program director, served as interpreter for the meeting. Captain Jim Wilkins, USN, U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage, addressed salvage recovery efforts after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast region.