U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Public Affairs Washington, D.C.   www.dot.gov/briefing.htm Speech

It is indeed a pleasure to be with you today as you continue your important work. Before I begin, I want to publicly thank you for your efforts to improve our marine transportation system. Your efforts and those of this Council are vital to the continued prosperity and security of this great nation.

America depends heavily on its Marine Transportation System as this group of experts knows so well. The world’s largest, most vibrant economy, number one in exports and imports, would not enjoy that standing without a totally integrated marine system of waterways, ports and intermodal landside connections.

Vessels and vehicles moving freight and people are a vital part of MTS. But, people are the heart and soul of this system, and the diversity of stakeholders represented by this Council is amazing: vessel operators, shippers, ports, recreational boaters, environmentalists, shore-side and seagoing labor, inland waterway operators, units of local governments and many others.

I’m here today less to preach to the choir than to benefit from your knowledge and experience. I want your best counsel to help me, the Department and the Congress address the significant challenges that confront America’s Marine Transportation System head on.

The MTS Report to the Congress and your own White Paper agree on the necessity of seeking affordable and innovative solutions to a number of issues.

There are five challenges that we all agree need immediate action:

• Landside infrastructure inadequacies exist at many of our larger ports;



• At-grade rail crossings on local streets cause gridlock in already busy neighborhoods;



• We need to adopt a systematic approach to MTS safety and environmental protection;



• Increased and coordinated MTS-related research is essential; and finally



• We must do a better job of using the formidable tools, especially information technology, to improve the safety and efficiency of the MTS.

Fixing these and other shortcomings will not happen if we work alone -- it must be a collaborative effort of all MTS stakeholders.

This Council has been proactive in working on various issues under your jurisdiction, and I encourage you to continue that approach. I want to hear your suggestions about how we can reduce congestion, improve port security, and accommodate the increasing flow of goods into and out of our nation’s ports.

Busy as all of us are now, the new Free Trade Area of the Americas discussed in Quebec last week will put the spotlight on our Marine Transportation System as never before. President Bush is committed to make this vision of the largest free trade area in the world a reality, one with a combined GDP of more than $10 trillion and serving 800 million people.

It’s not surprising to me that Canada is now considering the same type of initiative for their marine system.

Trade is the key to prosperity and dependent upon not only ports and waterways, but the entire intermodal transportation system. Working together we can build an economic engine that helps power our nation’s economic, national security and environmental well-being.

Resources are important. We will get them. How much? Where will the money go? It’s too early to say right now, but it is not too soon to begin laying the foundation of what we need to accomplish in the coming fiscal year.

We have TEA-21 for surface transportation and AIR-21 for aviation -- do we need a SEA-21 for our waterway transportation system? If so, what should such a legislative package contain?

How would such a measure help to accomplish closing the gap between growing transportation demand and the capacity of our transportation infrastructure?

Again, I believe an essential ingredient for providing the public with meaningful and tangible transportation options is true intermodal integration. This integration is important not only within the Department of Transportation, but for all aspects of transportation in both the public and private sectors.

This means, for example, that railroads can't any longer just think about railroads, but must also think highways and airways. Trucks can't just think about highways, but must also think about creating and maintaining deep-water ports through which valuable imports and exports flow daily.

In this country, we have the technology and the skill to bring our separate transportation infrastructures together to create true intermodalism.

That is why the work of MTSNAC is so vitally important. You have the skills and the knowledge to help make not only maritime transportation work better, but also to work better in conjunction with other modes of transportation.

You understand that our phenomenal economic growth requires us to also grow and improve our transportation system. Our Marine Transportation System, working together with surface transportation and other modes, offers a cost effective, efficient and environmentally safe mode of passenger and freight delivery. For the domestic transportation system to meet the needs of our economy in the 21st century, we must maximize the efficiency of the system, including an increased reliance on waterborne transportation to complement our existing rail and highway systems.

I know that the MTS National Advisory Council is working on numerous marine policy considerations to improve the existing system. I welcome those suggestions and pledge my help and support in developing an MTS that will provide seamless transportation for our goods and citizens.

I look forward to working with Chuck Raymond and all of you in the coming months and years on these very important transportation issues.

Thank you.