U.S. Department of Transporation
Washington, DC

Present

Robert Dockendorff, Pacific Maritime Association

Ray Barberesi, MARAD

Paul Bingham, DRI-WEFA

Evie Chitwood, MARAD

Susan Clark, MARAD Office of Public Affairs

Eileen Denne, American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA)

Kathleen Dunn, MARAD

CAPT Ernie Fink, U.S. Coast Guard National Marine Center

Richard Fullenbaum, DRI-WEFA

William B. Gibbs, Osprey Ship Management (Recruitment and Retention)

Margie Hegy, U.S. Coast Guard

Liz Hoefer, USDOT/ Office of the Secretary

Joseph Stone, International Association of Masters Mates & Pilots (MM&P)

Linda Taylor, U.S. Dept. of Commerce/ NOAA/ Ocean Service

The meeting commenced at 10:00 a.m. Joe Miniace was called to another meeting and Bob Dockendorff substituted as chair in Joe’s absence. The minutes of the meeting of May 3, 2001 were approved.

MTSNAC White Paper Forwarded to Secretary of Transportation

Bob Dockendorff noted that it was reported at the MTSNAC meeting in Baltimore that the updated version of the Awareness Team White Paper dated July 16, 2001 had been forwarded to the Secretary of Transportation. Ray Barberesi pointed out that, contrary to what might have been said, the revised White Paper was not yet a public document. He said that it must be returned to the program sponsor by the Secretary before it could be posted on the MTSNAC’s website and become a public document.

There was a discussion on how best to distribute the White Paper. Bob Dockendorff noted that Joe Miniace had indicated that PMA would print several thousand copies and that he would make these copies available to those MTSNAC member organizations that have distribution channels for them. Eileen Denne indicated that AAPA could distribute at least 100 copies. Distribution to colleges and universities with programs in transportation studies was also suggested. Organizational requests for printed copies should be e-mailed to jminiace@pmanet.org when the paper becomes available for distribution. The group also discussed “hard copy” publishing versus web publishing and noted that if multiple formats are posted to the website, that the output should be consistent between pdf, Word, and HTML. It was reported that a HTML version of the revised White Paper on the Members Only section of the MTSNAC website had lost formatting on two tables that resulted in a string of nonsensical numbers.

Improving the Usefulness of MTSNAC Website

Making more information available and more frequently updating information on the website would greatly improve its usefulness. Since nearly all MTSNAC members have their own websites, it was suggested that members who have not previously done so, should provide a link to the MTSNAC website from their corporate website.

It was also suggested that the MTSNAC website expand links to other organizations involved with the MTS, such as the Ship Operations Cooperative Program (SOCP) and to mariner recruitment and retention sites, as well as to mariner education sites. These links would increase awareness of the MTS and present a broader view of the MTS. Susan Lee at MARAD is the Webmaster: susan.lee@marad.dot.gov.

Faster turn-around of MTSNAC Meeting Minutes and Team Minutes

The timeliness of the publication of the minutes of MTSNAC meeting on the website was discussed. The extremely long periods between the time that a meeting was held and the time that the minutes are finally published is particularly frustrating to the members of the public who attend MTSNAC meetings. Currently, the Team Meeting minutes are not posted to the website. Posting of these minutes would greatly increase awareness of Team activities among the various Teams and increase awareness by the public. It was suggested that once a team has informally agreed, via e-mail, that its minutes are accurate, the members only portion of the website could be used to post the “draft” minutes prior to formal approval and submission to the MTSNAC for approval for posting to the public website.

.ICMTS Awareness Team Presentation

Liz Hoefer, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Office of the Secretary, and Linda Taylor, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Ocean Service, made a presentation on behalf of the ICMTS Awareness Team. They stressed that their primary purpose was to facilitate collaboration among the many agencies.

Liz brought copies of a logo that the team developed and used for the industry fair earlier this year and talked about “branding” efforts to increase recognition for the MTS.  Although the industry fair logo has not been officially adopted by the ICMTS, some discussion ensued as to whether that logo (if adopted) should replace the one that the MTSNAC has been using.  Further discussion will be needed.

The ICMTS team is developing a Communicator’s Tool Kit containing speaker information to assist people in developing presentations and speeches about the MTS. The kit, which is available at www.dot.gov/mts, will provide general tools that can be tailored to specific audiences. Included will be talking points, digital pictures, fact sheets, and brochures that could be kept up to date digitally and printed as needed. In order to add to the usefulness of the Communications Kit, digital photos of commercial and recreational vessels as well as other maritime activities are needed so that they can be downloaded for use in presentations and publications about the MTS. Liz also circulated samples of several full color brochures that will be available on the website that can be downloaded or printed.

The ICMTS team is also working on a video designed to elicit an educated and sympathetic response to the MTS.The target audience for the video is key decision-makers although it could also serve as an information source for the general public. The video will be 15 minutes long, and Liz asked that MTSNAC members be willing to be interviewed on the video to provide technical information on their aspect of the Industry. The video will also include short spots that may be extracted to integrate into other presentations or used for other purposes.

Linda Taylor talked about the 2002 industry fair, asked for input on scheduling, and encouraged MTSNAC members to consider attending and exhibiting at the fair. A discussion ensued about whether Maritime Day would be the best day to hold the fair. It was suggested that attendance might be higher if the event were held the day before when the annual Propeller Club Salute to Congress is held. The theme for the fair will be security. Themes for succeeding year fairs will be laid out in a forthcoming planning document. Linda stressed the importance of the Industry working with the media to generate publicity for both the industry fair and maritime day.

Discussion of Industry Direction and Federal Implementation

The MTSNAC Awareness Team complemented the ICMTS team on the innovative work that they are undertaking and commented that the materials being developed should prove very useful. It was noted that the ICMTS should solicit the MTSNAC for issues that the stakeholders of the MTS consider to be Industry critical messages for policy and legislative decision makers and for the public. Both Linda and Liz expressed an interest in regular communication with the MTSNAC, and they were invited to do so at any time by contacting the Maritime Administration MTSNAC program sponsor.

The MTS Logo

The advantage of having a uniform logo for all MTS activities was discussed. There was agreement that a single logo would greatly enhance “branding” and a sense of community, but raises the question as to the process that would be used to select a logo and what organizations would be involved in the decision. There is already a significant investment in the original logo thereby requiring a compelling case for adopting a new logo. The “new” logo shown on the brochures passed around at the meeting and that appear on the ICMTS website and at the recent fair include stylized railroad tracks and highways. While these symbols are good representations of “intermodal” transportation, they represent only a small part of the total MTS.  

Other Strategies for Increasing MTS Awareness

Public Service media advertising There was consensus that television is the most effective media to extol the virtues of the MTS, however, commercial over-the-air, cable, and satellite broadcast spots are very expensive. Even the Public Broadcasting System is expensive because it not only requires an “educational” presentation about a half-hour in length, but generally charges a fee to broadcast non-PBS generated programs.

It was suggested that MTS stakeholders that have an opportunity to address various groups include references to the MTS. Members of the public and key decision makers need to be educated about the importance of the MTS and reminded about how many consumer products and how many job producing exports are moved by water.

Bob Dockendorff noted that the “freight doesn’t vote” syndrome is a stumbling block for the MTS because the MTS may be seen as lacking political clout and therefore less likely to be a desirable media subject. Educating the media and making freight count is a critical issue. Eileen Denne suggested developing “10 key messages” that could be used by MTS stakeholders when discussing the MTS. These could be extracted from the White Paper and combined with port and cargo security subjects, which are the current hot issues.

Encourage the Press to refer to the MTS and the White Paper in news articles Once the revised version of the White Paper in the public domain it will provide a good source of quotable information for news articles.

Other Strategies: The mariner recruitment and retention effort of the SOCP has a public awareness effort also and they would be willing to help when MTSNAC gets to the mariner level in its efforts.

Joe Miniace will schedule the next meeting in the near future. With no further public comment the meeting adjourned at 12:30 p.m.

These are minutes of the Awareness Team. The opinions, recommendations, or positions expressed herein do not constitute the opinions, recommendation, or positions of the MTSNAC unless they are expressly ratified after review, discussion, and vote of the full MTSNAC.