John Graykowski News

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 recent confluence of three events, all strangely relating to the number 11, is presenting the U.S. shipbuilding industry with challenges greater than seen in many decades. American Classic Voyages (AMCV), owned by Chicago billionaire Sam Zell, is the nation's largest provider of Inland River and Hawaiian Island overnight cruises. In mid October, the company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy and that action has led the Maritime Administration (MARAD) to cancel its Title XI loan guarantee on the $1 billion construction program. Called Project America, the program would have built two 1,900-passenger cruise vessels for the Hawaiian Islands tourist market. With the financing guarantee cancelled, the shipyard has permanently stopped working on the two cruise vessels.

Efforts by U.S. officials and oil firms to waive Jones Act shipping requirements and increase available oil tankers to the Northeast are so far dead in the water, the U.S. Department of Transportation said. "No one has made a credible case in the Executive branch or Congress to grant waivers or eviscerate the Jones Act," John Graykowski, acting administrator of the Maritime Administration told Reuters. The Jones Act -- which is overseen by the Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration department -- requires crude oil and refined products to sail in U.S. flagged ships when in U.S. waters. Amid tight tanker availabilities, oil firms have claimed difficulty in finding ships to transport oil released during October and November from the U.S.

Former Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd) John E. Graykowski has joined the law firm of Dyer Ellis & Joseph as a shareholder. Since assuming his position with MarAd in 1994, Mr. Graykowski has been principally responsible for the implementation of the National Shipbuilding Initiative, with particular emphasis on the revitalization of the Title XI loan guarantee program, as well as programs related to the inland waterways and the Great Lakes. "We are excited about having John Graykowski join our firm; his addition to Dyer Ellis will further enhance our leading position as advisors to the marine transportation industry," said Patrick Cavanaugh, Managing Shareholder. During his tenure at MarAd, Mr.

John Graykowski has joined Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard, Inc., as Senior Vice President & General Counsel. John will take up his duties on February 1, 2003. Graykowski will report to Gunnar Skjelbred, President & CEO, Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard, and will be responsible for all aspects of marketing, external relations and Legal Affairs. Since 2000, John was a Partner with Blank Rome LLP (formerly Dyer Ellis & Joseph). Prior to joining the firm, Graykowski was Acting Administrator and Deputy Administrator of the Maritime Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation from 1994 to 2000. While at MarAd, Graykowski was responsible for implementing the National Shipbuilding Initiative (NSI)…

Unless things change dramatically, I am writing as the last Deputy Administrator of the Maritime Administration (MarAd). At least the MarAd we have known, sometimes loved, but always needed for the last 50 years. As I look at the Administration's budget proposals to transfer management of the Maritime Security Program (MSP) to the Department of Defense (DOD) and eliminate funding for the Title XI shipbuilding loan guarantee program, I cannot help but conclude that MarAd's days are numbered as a freestanding federal agency. This is not simply melodramatic doom saying from a former bureaucrat whose first credo in life is perpetuation of the species (or in this case the agency).

U.S. public port authorities will invest just over $9 billion in the next five years to improve and expand their facilities, according to Deputy Maritime Administrator John Graykowski, who addressed the American Association of Port Authorities' (AAPA) 88th Annual Convention, held in New York last week. Ports are spending record levels to expand and improve their facilities to meet projected demand, Graykowski said. Local port authorities have spent almost $20 billion since World War II. In 1998, ports invested nearly $1.5 billion, almost equaling the record set in 1997, including $154 million for general cargo. During the five-year period between 1999 and 2003, ports predict they will spend $9.1 billion, compared to $7.7 billion between 1998 to 2002.