United States Congress News

We recently checked in with Tracy Zea, Waterways Council Inc.’s new President & CEO, on what’s in store for the U.S. inland waterways for the remainder of 2020.To start, give us some insight on your background and how you came to lead WCI.I was born and raised in Chandler, Ariz., and attended South Dakota State University, receiving a degree in Political Science. After college, I found my way to Washington, D.C. via an internship with Senator Thune (R-S.D.). After the internship, I was hired by the House of Representatives, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

VT Halter Marine of Pascagoula, MS has emerged the victor in one of the most prized and coveted shipbuilding contracts in recent memory, a $746m deal to build the Coast Guard's lead Polar Security Cutter. If two additional ship options are exercised, the total deal could approach $2B.The U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy, through an Integrated Program Office (IPO), awarded VT Halter Marine Inc., of Pascagoula, Mississippi, a fixed price incentive (firm) contract for the Detail Design and Construction (DD&C) of the Coast Guard’s lead Polar Security Cutter (PSC).

According to the Internatinal Chamber of Shipping, the United States Congress signaled last week its intention to approve major free trade deals with Asia and Europe. ICS voices serious concern about the potentially protectionist approach being taken by the U.S. with respect to the future transport of energy exports. U.S. energy exports by sea are predicted to expand massively as a consequence of the shale revolution. International ship operators, represented by ICS, are particularly anxious that a regime currently being developed to promote the carriage of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exports on U.S. flag ships may set an undesirable precedent should the U.S. decide to lift the current ban on crude oil exports (as is being considered by Congress at the moment).

VISBY, ZUMWALT, INDEPENDENCE, FREEDOM, TORNIO, SAN ANTONIO, INCHEON, SIGMA, FREMM ... ... these ships are not only capable, tested and proven warships, they are extremely complex. ZUMWALT alone carries 16 Electronic Module Enclosures that contain 235 electronics cabinets each supporting a complex Total Ship Computing Environment. “Warships represent a significant investment for any country. It follows that, regardless of whether they are being used to defend national boundaries or project power…

The United States Congress this week enacted the strongest statement of support for the Jones Act and the American domestic maritime industry since the Merchant Marine Act of 1936. The measure was included as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 3979), which noted that the national security benefits of the domestic maritime industry and the Jones act are “unquestioned.” The bill states that the Jones Act and the American domestic maritime industry are vital to “the national security and economic vitality of the United States and the efficient operation of the United States transportation system.” The legislation has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate and is expected to be signed into law by the President.

Huntington Ingalls Industries' (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division delivered the amphibious assault ship America (LHA 6) to the U.S. Navy today. More than 900 crew members marched through the shipyard for a delivery ceremony on the ship's flight deck, where they joined Ingalls shipbuilders and personnel from the U.S. Navy's Supervisor of Shipbuilding-Gulf Coast. "The shipbuilders of Ingalls have worked tirelessly to deliver this awesome, powerful warship to our U.S. Navy customer," said Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias. "This took more than just doing a job.

A tumultuous three years for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, starting with the disastrous Macondo Oil Spill in April of 2010, has come full circle, arriving at a buoyant period for Gulf Cost boat builders, oil & gas developers and the maritime professionals who make it all happen. At the center of all of it is the Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA) and its President and CEO, Jim Adams. OMSA bills itself as the leading national association of, and spokesman for, the offshore marine transportation service industry. As a central tenet of its existence, OMSA vigorously defends the cabotage laws of the United States and encourages and promotes high standards of safety training and environmental protection.

The United States Congress cannot legislate technology ... but it keeps trying. A case in point is the requirement for scanning in a foreign port of all containerized cargo bound for the United States (the so-called 100% scanning requirement). It was supposed to come into effect on 1 July 2012. That date has been pushed back to at least 1 July 2014, if ever. The major reason for the delay is that no equipment capable of scanning maritime shipping containers in a practicable manner has been invented. The law, though, remains in place.

The primary focus of last year’s annual update, which appeared in the April 2011 issue, was U.S. efforts to tighten economic sanctions against Iran. Over the past year, U.S. pressure on Iran has intensified. Syria also has been a target of new U.S. sanctions, while the sanctions against Libya imposed in early 2011 have been eliminated for all practical purposes by a series of general licenses. Our 2012 update concentrates on these key U.S. developments, but readers should be aware that these were not the only recent changes to U.S. and international sanctions programs.

While it may be an unpopular opinion, I support marine environmental regulation – so long as it is sensible, fair, well-researched, and structured so as to result in minimal unintended consequences. Knee-jerk regulation, on the other hand, is invariably counterproductive. Examples illustrate these points. The issue of whether oil tankers should be constructed with double hulls was debated within the maritime industry for years. Only a few shipowners were sufficiently intrepid to actually build such ships on an experimental basis – and they operated at a financial handicap as compared with their competitors who operated cheaper, simpler vessels.

Legislation has been favorably reported out of the Senate Committee in Commerce, Science, and Transportation that would, if enacted, constitute the first official steps by the federal government to come to grips with biofouling of the hulls of ships. The Ballast Water Management Act of 2007 (S. 1578) would, among other things, require the U.S. Coast Guard to conduct a study of vessel-borne vectors (other than ballast water and sediment), specifically including vessel hulls, anchors, and equipment.

The United States Congress is working hard to enact maritime security legislation. At the same time and under the leadership of the United States, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is working hard to develop an international convention on maritime security. There is little doubt that Congress will complete its task before IMO completes its mission. There is also little doubt that, in some areas, the U.S. approach will differ from that to be taken by IMO. The international maritime community will thus be facing a situation not wholly dissimilar from that of just over ten years ago when the U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) challenged the approach taken by IMO with regard to double hulls on oil tankers and related matters.

The United States Congress is working hard to enact maritime security legislation. At the same time and under the leadership of the United States, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is working hard to develop an international convention on maritime security. There is little doubt that Congress will complete its task before IMO completes its mission. There is also little doubt that, in some areas, the U.S. approach will differ from that to be taken by IMO. The international maritime community will thus be facing a situation not wholly dissimilar from that of just over ten years ago when the U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) challenged the approach taken by IMO with regard to double hulls on oil tankers and related matters.

Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Ford in uniform 1945, who later became the 38th President of the United States (1974-1977). Ford received his commission as an Ensign in the U.S Naval Reserve on April 13, 1942 and later participated in many actions in the Pacific aboard the fast aircraft carrier USS Monterey (CVL 26). He was eventually released from active duty under honorable conditions in Feb. 1946. President Ford, 93, passed away on Dec. 26, 2006 at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Former President Gerald R. Ford passed away Dec. 26 at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 93. When he entered the White House in 1974 as the 38th President, Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. became the fourth consecutive President to have served in the U.S. Navy.

NCL America made U.S. maritime history by christening Pride of Hawai'i, the largest and most expensive U.S.-flagged cruise ship in history. The historic presentation of this new U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed passenger ship continues NCL America's dynamic revival of the U.S.-flagged cruise industry that had seemingly been extinguished in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. At the official christening ceremony at the Port of Los Angeles, Star Cruises Chairman Tan Sri KT LIM and NCL Corporation's President and CEO Colin Veitch were joined by the Honorable Daniel K. Inouye, senior United States Senator from Hawai'i, who sponsored and named the vessel at the pier side event.

Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England will name the Navy's tenth Nimitz class aircraft carrier in honor of World War II Naval Aviator and former President of the United States George Herbert Walker Bush during a ceremony today at 3 p.m. in the Pentagon Auditorium, room 5A1070. Senator John Warner of Virginia, a former secretary of the Navy himself, will join England and the former president for the event. The future USS George H.W. under construction at Northrop Grumman's Newport News in Virginia. Bush's lifetime of service to American began when he joined the Navy on his 18th birthday in 1942 as a seaman. commission and designated a Naval Aviator before his 19th birthday. Jacinto. making a bombing run. bailing out of the doomed aircraft.

It now appears that the 107th United States Congress will enact new maritime security legislation during a lame-duck session to be held this month. This is ironic since both Senate and the House of Representatives passed maritime security bills months ago, the two measures were largely similar, and the two houses have been conferencing on development of a joint measure for some time. The purpose of this paper is not to dwell on the issues that delayed earlier passage of the measure. Rather, it is to review what new maritime security measures have been adopted by the various federal agencies utilizing their existing authority. As with the beginning of U.S. involvement in WW II and the Korean War, the War against Terrorism has started out as a 'come as you are' event.

The Center for Seafarers' Rights of the Seamen's Church Institute of New York & New Jersey has called on the U.S. State Department to exempt crew visas from a proposed November 1 increase in visa application fees. cost of visas out of reach of many seafarers and ships' operators thereby depriving crews of shore leave in the United States," said Douglas B. Stevenson, Director of the Center for Seafarers' Rights. "Most foreign merchant mariners face extended periods at sea with long work hours and in cramped living conditions without contact with their families. Denial of shore leave so severely affects the mental and physical state of seafarers that the U.S. Most shore leave is denied to merchant mariners in the United States simply because they have been unable to obtain a visa.