The advancement of the recently announced America’s Maritime Action Plan (MAP) is embraced by the ports in the bi-state St. Louis region as a unique opportunity to play a role in this comprehensive federal framework.
The MAP is a blueprint for rebuilding the nation’s maritime strength, increasing the use of technology, enhancing supply chain resilience and expanding domestic industrial capacity. It is estimated that only one percent of all new vessels are currently built in the United States.
While national attention focuses on coastal shipbuilding and ocean ports, the MAP highlights the need for expanded geographical representation, underscoring that inland waterways and river ports are essential to achieving these goals. For the St. Louis region, this policy represents an opportunity to elevate the Mississippi River and our nation’s most efficient inland port system within America’s maritime future.
America’s economic competitiveness depends on a resilient, efficient and geographically diversified freight and maritime network. Inland waterways move the bulk commodities that support U.S. manufacturing, energy production and agriculture, while offering the most efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly mode of freight transportation. The MAP’s emphasis on expanding maritime capacity beyond traditional coastal hubs acknowledges this reality and strengthens the role of interior regions in supporting national maritime objectives.
Among the MAP’s most promising provisions for inland regions is the proposed creation of Maritime Prosperity Zones. Modeled after Opportunity Zones, these designations are intended to attract private investment into shipbuilding, repair, maritime manufacturing, logistics, and workforce development, serving as a catalyst for long-term maritime industrial growth. Eligibility clearly includes river regions, making inland port systems excellent options for both public funding and private capital.
That bodes well for regions such as St. Louis that are already attracting investment, have an abundance of available industrial land, strong multimodal connectivity and a skilled workforce—including manufacturing workers credited with being 18.3% more productive than the national average.
The St. Louis region already has a strategic role in attracting private investment that feeds into the shipbuilding supply chains— through its raw materials availability, metals manufacturing capacity, logistics infrastructure and workforce. Our ports provide key pieces of the broader industrial ecosystem that shipbuilders rely on for materials and logistics.
This is all complemented by the local presence of Scott Air Force Base and the US Coast Guard, given the MAP’s call for a “Military to Mariner” program. Today, many retirees from the Air Force and Coast Guard choose to locate in the St. Louis region where cost of living is low. Where better to help train the maritime workforce of the future than in St. Louis?
The MAP also directs federal agencies to reassess inland river access and navigation standards to ensure they support modern maritime needs, including vessel construction and repair. This reinforces the importance of continued investment in channel maintenance, dredging and port access improvements on the Mississippi River.
Also significant is the MAP’s call to modernize maritime financing tools. These changes could provide inland ship repair yards, fabrication facilities and marine manufacturers improved access to long-term, lower-cost financing.
The St. Louis Regional Port System is exceptionally well positioned to advance these objectives. Operating along a 70-mile stretch of the Mississippi River, the region’s ports form the most efficient inland port district in the nation as determined by tons moved per river mile. The nearby Kaskaskia Regional Port District moves several million more tons annually. Supported by strong river, rail and interstate connectivity, the region is a logical inland hub for maritime repair, vessel support, modular fabrication and related industrial activity envisioned under the MAP.
By aligning federal maritime policy with inland port capabilities, the MAP creates an opportunity to transform river ports into engines of maritime industrial growth. Strategic designation of inland Maritime Prosperity Zones, targeted investments in navigation and port access, and expanded financing for inland maritime facilities would benefit the St. Louis region. It would also advance national goals related to economic security, supply chain resilience and global competitiveness.
As leaders of the ports within the St. Louis Regional Freightway, we stand united and ready to partner with federal, state and private-sector stakeholders to help realize the full potential of America’s Maritime Action Plan.
Susan Taylor is Director of St. Louis Port Authority. Dennis Wilmsmeyer is Executive Director of America’s Central Port in Madison County, Illinois. Cyndi Buchheit-Courtway is Executive Director of Jefferson County (MO) Port Authority. Brent Donovan is General Manager of Kaskaskia Regional Port District, which covers parts of Monroe, Randolph and St. Clair counties in Illinois.