Virginia’s Sean Connaughton, away from the fray inside the Beltway, continues to provide leadership on the waterfront and beyond. At Marad, new life for America’s Marine Highways flickers with a new employee.
Last week’s Shipping Operations Cooperative Program (SOCP) meeting at MITAGS centered chiefly, so it seemed to me, on training initiatives and regulatory implementation of the coming, so-called Manila Amendments to STCW training protocols. But there was more to it than that and when I saw that the first day’s luncheon speaker would feature a U.S. Maritime Administration-led talk on America’s Marine Highway Program, I made sure that I arrived early and got a good seat. Hoping for more than the usual party line, I wasn’t disappointed. As it turns out, however, the week brought a cornucopia of new shortsea shipping stories – much of which emanates from outside the beltway and involves real-life working programs. Really. I wouldn’t kid about something like this.
· America’s Marine Highway: New federal competence at the wheel
First, a little about the revival going on at Marad: At DOT, Lauren Brand, a transportation and logistics industry veteran, has been brought in to breathe new life into the effort and to bring the ‘good news’ to industry. Her presentation of the issues, initiatives and impediments with regard to jumpstarting the domestic shortsea shipping scene here in the United States was entertaining, chock full of facts and additionally brought to light a number of things that I was previously unaware of. For example, a Marine Highway Advisory Board is currently being established (how can we have one of these and not MERPAC, I ask?) and the Tri-Lateral Short Sea Working Group, established in 2003, will meet next in Washington in January of 2011. But, I don’t want to steal her thunder. You can read the presentation by clicking HERE.
· The Commonwealth of Virginia: Leadership AND Action
Next, and on my way home to Charlotte on Interstate-95 (competing with all those dirty, heavy trucks), I had the bright idea to call Sean Connaughton, the former U.S. Maritime Administrator, now serving as Virginia’s Secretary of Transportation. Unlike current Marad employees, he is actually allowed to have conversations with reporters, sans the safety net of prepared questions and a hovering PAO in attendance. We weren’t able to meet in person on Thursday as I roared by Richmond (at the posted speed limit / no texting) on my way south, but on Tuesday of this week, he provided details of the Commonwealth’s nascent, but aggressive efforts to bring shortsea shipping into the mainstream multimodal equation. Picking up where he left off at Marad, Connaughton continues to show leadership on the waterfront and also to those who can’t quite see the ocean from their front doorstep.
· I-64 Express: Immediate Dividends
In Virginia, any number of shortsea efforts are already starting to yield fruit. Probably the most obvious of these initiatives involves the so-called “I-64 Express” which involves a container barge service running between Norfolk / Hampton Roads and the niche port of Richmond. Started in 2008 with Virginia Port Authority, State and Richmond MPO funds, it continues to run today with this mix. Connaughton adds, “Next year we will apply the Marad AHM funds, as well.”
Intended largely to remove trucks from the crowded Interstate Highway leading in and out of the congested Hamptons Roads area, the service has done just that over the past two years. Last year alone, the barges effectively removed 12,000 trucks – and associated air pollution and road abuse – from Virginia highways. This year, Connaughton hopes to see the equivalent of 14,000 trucks taken off the highways. And, because the barge carries primarily 40 foot containers, the service does not involve the time consuming “unpack and repack” associated with shortsea solutions involving the 53’ model.
For his part, Connaughton hopes to expand the I-64 barge service even further. And, with the help of the federal money (as much as $1.1 million), Virginia will use the intra-harbor barge service to shuttle containers between various VPA ports. Challenges include complicated labor agreements and the (multiple) handling of containers. Interestingly, the one thing that does not yet present a problem is the dreaded Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT). “We stay within the same Customs district, so it doesn’t come into play,” explains Connaughton. Beyond this, the Port of Richmond fronts directly onto the Interstate 95 highway, making inbound and outbound truck moves for local cargoes a virtual “snap.”
The unique barge container barge service has recently been designated an "American Marine Highway" by the Maritime Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Virginia, for now, hopes to break even on the service, says Connaughton. He insists that only a small increase in volume will allow them to realize that goal. I like his chances.
· Rail-Barge Service on the Eastern Shore & More…
Beyond the I-64 corridor – and no less important – VA Governor McDonnell recently announced the resumption of a Rail-Barge Service from Eastern Shore to the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area. Calling the service a “Critical Transportation Link for Freight Shipment,” the effort is the result of a partnership between the Commonwealth, area localities, and the Bay Coast Railroad. According to a prepared Commonwealth statement, “The barge, which was removed from service last year, provides connecting service between the Virginia's Eastern Shore and Norfolk/Virginia Beach.”
Suspended because of $1 million in structural deficiencies related to barge safety, the program now goes back into service, in part thanks to state grant money provided through the Shortline Railway Preservation Fund. The concept is simple – and it removes trucks from the highways. Containers move to Cape Charles from Eastern Shore locations and then are moved via barge to Norfolk. The service resumes this week, a tribute to the power of a private-public partnership fostered by Virginia and Connaughton’s transportation department.
Another perhaps less obvious place where Virginia is achieving transportation efficiencies is at the inland port of Front Royal. The freight location includes a Foreign Trade Zone and moves cargo via truck and rail to Norfolk where it can take advantage of waterborne efficiencies. A similar program is being developed at the port of Richmond, where the “I-64 Express” allows shippers to skip the traffic on the highway and move cargo directly down into the Hampton Roads area.
· Blue Water Marine Highways
Finally, and in what will become the real test of a port authority’s ability to fully manage a shortsea shipping program, the port of Norfolk, VA boasts a channel that is dredged to 50 feet; the deepest access on the East Coast and arguably the only channel which is ready to handle the newest generation of mega-containerships that will soon begin transiting the Panama Canal. A little help from Congress with the Harbor Maintenance Tax exemption (eliminating double taxing of containers on the shortsea leg) would position Virginia as the logical center of East Coast shortsea shipping operations. Others – mired in red tape, environmental reviews and funding issues – struggle to deepen their waterways. Meanwhile, the estimated completion date (2014) for the canal expansion is looming large in the porthole.
· Competence and Persistence
Not every state can have the most effective Maritime Administrator in recent history on their team when it comes to formulating cogent transportation strategies and solutions that work. Clearly, Virginia is making the best use of Connaughton’s considerable experience and talents. Back at Marad, the arrival of Lauren Brand signals a glimmer of hope that just maybe we’ll start to use those federal dollars in greater numbers for things like dredging and port infrastructure projects, instead of laying down asphalt like there’s no tomorrow. Making that happen will take competence and persistence. And if last week is any indication of what is to come next, this thing called shortsea shipping has a real chance to succeed.
I occasionally get reader responses to my shortsea columns that gently chide me to, “Let that shortsea stuff go. It’s not going to happen.” Actually, it is happening. Beyond competence and persistence, we also need leadership and – more importantly – results. And my vote for the person who can lead us out of the darkness is for the same guy who oversaw the reopening of the bathrooms at Virginia’s Interstate rest areas in the middle of the worst fiscal crisis in 80 years. That other shortsea shipping stuff? It’s nice, too. – MarPro.
Read about the Barge rail service.
* * *
Joseph Keefe is the lead commentator of MaritimeProfessional.com. Additionally, he is now Managing Editor of the new Maritime Professional print magazine. You can also read his work in MarineNews and Maritime Reporter magazines. He can be reached at jkeefe@maritimeprofessional.com or at Keefe@marinelink.com. MaritimeProfessional.com is the largest business networking site devoted to the marine industry. Each day thousands of industry professionals around the world log on to network, connect, and communicate.