WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration announced on March 29 a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) encouraging states and port authorities to apply for $230 million in discretionary grant funding for port and intermodal infrastructure-related projects through…
Communications, Information Sharing Seen as Critical for Middle East Shipping Security
Collaboration between the merchant shipping community and coalition military forces is critical in securing maritime trade flows across the Middle East region, with communications and information sharing central to such collaboration, a U.S. Navy officer told a recent regional shipping…
MARAD Announces Comment Period for Future Use of the Historic Vessel NS Savannah
WASHINGTON — The Maritime Administration (MARAD) has published a Federal Register notice inviting comments on MARAD’s future plans for the N.S. Savannah (NSS). The notice can be found at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/13/2021-00527/collecting-proposals-for-future-use-of-the-historic-vessel-ns-savannah The N.S. Savannah was the world’s first nuclear-powered merchant ship. It operated from 1962 to 1971,…
MARAD Announces Funding Opportunity for Small Shipyard Grant Program
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced in a Jan. 19 release the availability of $19.6 million in federal funding to U.S. small shipyards through the Small Shipyard Grant Program. These investments support efficiency improvements and…
MARAD Authorizes Construction of Two Additional National Security Multi-Mission Vessels
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) authorized the construction of two additional National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV), which will replace aging training vessels at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine, and Texas A&M Maritime Academy in…
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Superintendent Receives Third Star
WASHINGTON – Now-former Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao promoted U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) Superintendent Rear Adm. Jack Buono to vice admiral in the U.S. Maritime Service (USMS) at a small ceremony Jan. 11 in the Department of Transportation headquarters,…
MARAD Cuts Steel on New Training Ships, Congress Funds Fourth NSMV to Prepare New Mariners
America’s merchant fleet and maritime industry are vital to the nation’s commerce. The six state maritime academies together produce more than 70 percent of U.S. Coast Guard licensed officers each year. Along with the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, the schools are addressing…
NMSV Achieves Milestone with Steel-Cutting Ceremony
PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) launched a new era in maritime education with the Dec. 15 cutting of steel for the new National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) at Philly Shipyard Inc., MARAD said in a release….
GE to Supply Power, Propulsion for MARAD’s National Security Multi-Mission Vessel
WARWICKSHIRE, U.K. — GE’s Power Conversion business has been awarded a $40 million contract to supply the power and propulsion systems for two National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMVs), GE said in a Nov. 23 release. This new class of purpose-built…
Biden Focus on Infrastructure, Environmental Improvements Could Lift Jones Act
ARLINGTON, Va. — President-elect Joseph R. Biden’s Jr. twin goals of rebuilding America’s infrastructure, while protecting the environment, could bolster support for maintaining the 100-year-old law that protects the U.S. maritime industry, according to a Washington think tank analyst. The Biden…