Anthony Foxx News

A U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) midshipman who shook the maritime industry last year when, under the moniker "Midshipman-X," publicly described how she was raped by her superior officer while serving as an engine cadet aboard a Maersk cargo ship, has been revealed as Hope Hicks.Hicks is one of two USMMA students being represented by Sanford Heisler Sharp and Maritime Legal Solutions, who said Tuesday they filed two related complaints in New York state court against Maersk Line, Limited alleging that company, a subsidiary of Danish shipping giant A.P.

Container Loading Equipment to Provide Greater Efficiencies for Container on Barge Service Between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The Port of New Orleans and the Port of Greater Baton Rouge will acquire specialized container loading equipment to increase efficiencies to the current container on barge shuttle service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans with a newly announced grant of $1,758,595 from the Maritime Administration (MARAD). "The container on barge shuttle service, operated by Seacor AMH…

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Build America Bureau is now soliciting applications for up to $850 million in Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies (FASTLANE) grants. The FASTLANE program was established in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act to fund critical freight and highway projects across the country. The FAST Act authorized the program at $4.5 billion for fiscal years (FY) 2016 through 2020…

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced $4.85 million in grants to six Marine Highway projects along the waterways of 17 states and the District of Columbia. The goal of the Maritime Administration’s Marine Highway Program is to expand the use of U.S. navigable waterways to relieve landside congestion, reduce air emissions and generate other public benefits by increasing the efficiency of the surface transportation system. “These grants will help us take advantage of the economic and environmental benefits of one of America’s most crucial transportation assets – our coastal and inland waterways,” Foxx said. The grants will help expand existing marine highway operations across New York Harbor…

Governor Terry McAuliffe today announced that The Port of Virginia’s preliminary unaudited reports for fiscal year 2016 indicate that it will post an annual operating income of $4.76 million, the second year in a row that the port completed its fiscal year with profitability. “The Port of Virginia’s performance is meeting and exceeding the expectations of my administration,” said Gov. McAuliffe. “This financial turnaround is proof that the port’s wise investments in capital projects and people, which are being made in support of a plan for sustainable growth, are yielding very positive results, in terms of reputation abroad, delivery of service, performance at the piers and an increasingly stable financial picture.

Congressman French Hill (AR-2) joined Mayor Mark Stodola to celebrate the official announcement of the a $6.185M TIGER grant awarded by the US Department of Transportation to the Little Rock Port Authority. The funds will be used to support the Little Rock Port Authority Growth Initiative to construct improvements to the existing slackwater harbor area, including a new dock with direct dock-to-rail capability; and add new rail storage. “We are celebrating today because getting a TIGER grant is a big deal,” said Congressman French Hill. “The Little Rock Port Authority through the leadership of our board of directors and staff have helped mold the Little Rock Port Authority into an economic engine for our central Arkansas economy, said Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola. U.S.

Container-on-barge services have returned to the Port of Greater Baton Rouge to provide the petrochemical industry with another option to move its products. Operated by SEACOR AMH, the service transports empty containers by barge into the Port of Greater Baton Rouge and loads them at the Inland Rivers Marine Terminal with products from nearby industries. The IRMT is located on a slack water canal off the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Port Allen. The second leg of the service delivers and returns containers to and from the Port of New Orleans, via the Mississippi River.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced the appointment of 29 new members to the Marine Transportation System National Advisory Committee (MTSNAC). Established in 2010, MTSNAC is comprised of leaders from commercial transportation firms, ship construction, repair and recycling, trade associations, state and local public entities, labor organizations, academics, and environmental groups that advise the Secretary and the Maritime Administration on policies to ensure that the U.S. Marine Transportation System is capable of responding to projected trade increases. The Committee advises the Secretary on solutions to impediments hindering effective use of short sea transportation and other matters as the Secretary determines.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administrator Paul “Chip” Jaenichen today joined Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and Senator Jack Reed, along with state and local officials, to christen a new crane barge, marking the completion of a nearly $20 million project that substantially enhances cargo handling capabilities at the Port of Providence. Funded, in part, by a $10.5 million Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant in 2010, the crane barge, along with two high performance cranes that were delivered in 2013, have transformed the port into a modern marine cargo center. “This project is…

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) today awarded $4.9 million in grants to support capital improvements at nine small shipyards located throughout the United States. Provided through the Small Shipyard Grant Program, the funding supports industrial modernizations that increase productivity, allowing our Nation’s small shipyards to compete more effectively in the global marketplace. “Small shipyard grants do more than just improve shipyard infrastructure and equipment or add to the bottom line,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has designated three new Marine Highway Projects. The Mississippi River, previously designated as the M-55, will serve as the primary route for the Baton Rouge-New Orleans Shuttle project. Sponsored by the Port of New Orleans in partnership with the Port of Greater Baton Rouge and SEACOR AMH, LLC, the proposed container-on-barge service will operate between the Ports of Greater Baton Rouge and New Orleans, reducing congestion and bridge traffic on Louisiana’s Interstate 10. Also operating along the M-55 from Chicago to New Orleans, the proposed Illinois Intrastate Shuttle project is structured to shift about 5,500 containers in its first year of operation from congested north-south Interstate 55 to the Mississippi River.

U.S. High-ranking government officials, policy influencers, port authority CEOs and senior staff from throughout the Western Hemisphere, along with a host of maritime industry leaders will converge on Washington, D.C., April 4-6, to participate in the 2016 Spring Conference of the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) – the unified and recognized voice of seaports in the Americas. Among the conference highlights will be a keynote luncheon address by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx on April 6…

U.S. U.S. ports and our marine transportation system – and the hardworking men and women behind these operations – are essential drivers of the American economy. Every day, our ports and waterways handle millions of tons of domestic and international cargo, including food and agricultural products, petrochemicals and automobiles. In 2014 alone, $1.7 trillion worth of U.S. goods moved through our ports, representing 75 percent of imports and exports by weight. But ports, like our highways and bridges, face challenges.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is now soliciting applications for the Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies (FASTLANE) grant program. The FASTLANE program is a new program in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act to fund critical freight and highway projects across the country. The FAST Act authorizes $800 million in funding for the FASTLANE program for fiscal year 2016, with 25 percent reserved for rural projects, and 10 percent for smaller projects.

A former member of the 9-11 Commission recently wrote in The Hill that an “often overlooked” benefit of the Jones Act is its role in homeland security and border protection. Former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton and former state attorney general and homeland security expert from the Commission, said he finds border security the Jones Act’s “most vital benefit” in addition to its economic benefits of supporting more than 500,000 American jobs and the nearly $100 billion it fuels into the U.S. economy every year. The complete article written by Mr. As homeland security and border control remain a top priority among presidential candidates, one important provider of that security is often overlooked—the principal role the domestic maritime industry plays in securing America’s borders.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced that DOT has awarded contracts with a total award value of $1.96 billion over eight years to seven U.S. maritime firms to manage, maintain and operate 48 National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) vessels through January 2024. These Maritime Administration contracts are funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) National Defense Sealift Fund to support DoD’s strategic sealift mission. “Since 1946, National Defense Reserve Fleet vessels have facilitated U.S. strategic sealift, natural disaster response, and humanitarian operations all around the world,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

Maritime Administration announced funding availability for small U.S. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) today announced the availability of $4.9 million in Federal funding to support capital improvements and employee training at small U.S. shipyards. The grants, provided through the Small Shipyard Grant Program, will support efficiency improvements and modernizations that allow U.S. shipyards to compete more effectively in the global marketplace.

The $50 million Guam Commercial Port Improvement Project, administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) on behalf of the Department of Defense (DOD), has been completed, transforming Guam’s strategic commercial sea port into a world-class facility ready to meet the demands of the future, MARAD announced today. “As Guam’s only commercial port, these facilities are key to unlocking a more prosperous future for the people of the territory – and the whole of the Western Pacific Region,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. U.S.

Since 1985, the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville has played an important role in handling millions of tons of steel, grain, fertilizer, salt and other bulk cargoes for both inbound and outbound markets – domestic and abroad. Located directly across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky., the port's central location connects the Midwest to the world with the Inland Waterways System, providing year-round access to the Great Lakes as well as ocean vessels in the Gulf of Mexico that can be transloaded with barges coming from or going to Jeffersonville.

Deputy Maritime Administrator Michael J. Rodriguez today announced that the Department of Transportation will provide $12.3 million for the Port of Hueneme Intermodal Improvement project in Port Hueneme. The project is one of 39 federally-funded transportation projects in 34 states selected to receive a total of $500 million under the Department’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) 2015 program. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced project selections for this round of TIGER grants on October 29. The Department received 627 eligible applications from 50 states and several U.S. territories, including Tribal governments, requesting 20 times the $500 million available for the program, or $10.1 billion for needed transportation projects.

San Diego’s Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal Modernization project is due to receive $10 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Deputy Maritime Administrator Michael J. Rodriguez announced today. The project is one of 39 federally-funded transportation projects in 34 states selected to receive a total of $500 million under the DOT’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) 2015 program. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced project selections for this round of TIGER grants on October 29.

After evaluating 627 applications, 50 of which were from ports, for the FY 2015 Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants, U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Anthony Foxx today announced 39 awards for $500 million in funding to be made in the seventh round of this multimodal, discretionary grant program. Of those, five awards totaling $44.3 million, or about 9 percent of total funding, are going to commercial seaports or to projects that directly aid the efficient movement of goods to and from America’s ports.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced it will provide more than $1 million to support the development of two new emission-reducing maritime solutions. The first is a liquefied natural gas (LNG) conversion demonstration project, and the second is modification of an on-board air pollution control device that will aid the U.S. maritime industry’s effort to decrease its environmental footprint. “The Department continues to fund innovative projects that support a steady shift towards cleaner and sustainable transportation options,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. Through a cooperative agreement, MARAD has provided $730,000 to Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities (PRCC) to convert a towboat engine from diesel to LNG.