U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy - Joint Ocean Commission Initiative

CHAPTER 13SUPPORTING MARINE COMMERCEAND TRANSPORTATIONMarine commerce and transportation are vital to the nation’s economy and security.The waterborne movement of cargo and passengers requires an efficientmarine transportation system that is smoothly connected to the nation’s inlandhighway and rail infrastructure to meet current and future demands. In addition,improving the nation’s marine transportation system depends on improvedinteragency coordination, including between marine transportation andother important ocean and coastal activities, enhanced emergencypreparedness and security at the nation’s ports, and improved strategicplanning to ensure that increased levels of marine commerce aremanaged in the most effective, safe, secure, and environmentallyresponsible manner possible.Connecting People, Places, and ProductsThe U.S. marine transportation system is the nation’s link toglobal commerce and an essential and growing componentof the national economy. The movement of manufacturing jobsfrom the United States to overseas, the nation’s dependence on rawmaterials from other countries, global competition to provide highqualitygoods at competitive prices, and consumer demand havecombined to increase the nation’s dependence on the import of foreignmaterials and goods. At the same time, increasing affluence in foreignnations, coupled with worldwide population growth, has stimulated internationaldemand for U.S. agricultural and manufactured products.Value of the Marine Transportation SystemThe world’s oceans and inland waterways are the highways of choice for the globalmovement of this vast international trade. As the world’s largest trading nation, the UnitedStates imports and exports more merchandise than any other country (Table 13.1) and hasone of the most extensive marine transportation systems in the world. 1 U.S. marineimport-export trade accounts for nearly 7 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. 2Domestically, coastal and inland marine trade amounts to roughly one billion tons ofcargo, worth more than $220 billion a year. 3The U.S. marine transportation system is a complex public–private partnership withmany participants. It consists of state, territorial, local, and privately owned facilitiesmanaged, financed, and operated by federal, state, territorial, and local governments.192 A N O CEAN B LUEPRINT FOR THE 21ST C ENTURY