AASHTO - Freight Transportation Network

Chair -- Larry L. "Butch" Brown, Mississippi
Vice Chair -- Richard Nordahl, California
Liaison -- Leo Penne, AASHTO

News

Shipping industry objects to Bush's Seaway toll proposal

TRANSPORTATION: Industry representatives say the toll proposal is unfair and will hurt business.

President Bush's proposal to make the St. Lawrence Seaway a maritime tollway received an icy reception on the Great Lakes. "It could be devastating for shipping throughout the Great Lakes," said John Baker, president of the Great Lakes District Council of the International Longshoremen's Association.If enacted, the toll system is expected to generate about $8 million annually -- covering about half of the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp.'s budget.
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Port officials concerned on Bush budget

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - President Bush's proposed federal budget has alarmed port officials concerned over being pitted against other transit groups competing for $600 million in Homeland Security grants.

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) said Bush's budget would shift the security grants into a sweeping new program that combines the security infrastructure needs of seaports with those of trains, trucks, buses and other public transit. Alabama State Port Authority spokeswoman Judith Adams said the federal program change will make it "harder for ports to compete for precious and shrinking federal funding resources." Continue reading this article

U.S. May Ask Planes to Help Track Ships for Security

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is considering using commercial jets as a new security eye in the sky to help track ships within 2,000 nautical miles of its shores, a senior Coast Guard official said on Friday.

The move would be part of efforts to thwart terrorist attacks from the sea by Al Qaeda or other groups. Security sources say ships, ports and waterways are extremely vulnerable to such attacks. Jeffrey High, the U.S. Coast Guard's director of Maritime Domain Awareness, said his agency might ask commercial planes to pick up routine ship signals which identify vessels and their cargo, and then to pass the information on to U.S. authorities.
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Port Technology

New Bush national security directive on maritime issues charts Administration course during his second term

On December 21, President Bush issued a national security decision directive on maritime security that is to become the linchpin of his Administration’s second-term policy in the area. The nine-page unclassified National Security Presidential Directive 41/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 13 provides a strategy designed to coordinate federal, state and local governmental efforts with those of the private sector to protect ports and secure container cargos, while maintaining surveillance over U.S. territorial waters. The directive, entitled “Maritime Security Policy,” is designed to “integrate and leverage” existing federal policies and programs, such as the Container Security Initiative, the Proliferation Security Initiative and Operation Safe Commerce, “while ensuring inter-agency alignment and focus,” according to sources familiar with the document.
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DAILY MARITIME NEWS SITES

Maritme Global Net
http://www.mgn.com/

America Shipping
http://www.americashipping.com/

PORTNews
http://www.portnews.com/

Eyefortransport.com--Shipper News
http://www.eyefortransport.com/index.asp?ch3=17

WorldCargo Online News
http://www.worldcargonews.com/index.htm