The Marine Transportation System and the Federal Role Measuring Performance, Targeting Improvement -- Special Report 279 (2004) / Chapter Skim
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5 Information on Marine Transportation System Conditions, Performance, and Needs
5 Information on Marine Transportation System Conditions, Performance, and Needs
Pages 121-136
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From page 121... ...
Public port authorities must meet the demands of private users while serving the public interest. State and local governments must balance the responsibility of building the highways connecting to ports with other demands on their limited transportation resources.
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From page 122... ...
Earlier chapters described the federal role in furthering several such areas of interest: ensur ing marine safety, protecting the marine environment, facilitating com merce, and promoting national security. Multiple federal agencies have responsibilities relating to aspects of these interests.
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From page 123... ...
They are used by the Coast Guard to develop vessel design, construction, and oper ational requirements for safety and pollution prevention and to guide enforcement activities pertaining to the operations of domestic and for eign vessels. The agency also uses the information in developing specific safety initiatives, such as the Commercial Vessel Safety and Recreational Boating Safety programs.
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From page 124... ...
Accord ingly, the Federal Aviation Administration (with help from the National Transportation Safety Board) gathers and maintains extensive information on the safety of the aviation system.
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From page 125... ...
ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE The environmental performance of the marine transportation system is related to safety performance. However, environmental databases, like marine safety databases, are designed mainly to meet the particular opera tional and regulatory needs of the specific agencies that collect the infor mation.
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From page 126... ...
The indices in the report are intended to provide benchmarks for monitoring changes in coastal conditions over time and an overall assess ment of the need for federal attention in improving coastal conditions. Federal efforts to improve the environmental performance of the MTS must be viewed from multiple perspectives and take into consideration the roles of the many agencies with related responsibilities.
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From page 127... ...
The Lock Performance Monitoring System data, which are rich in detail, are used by the Corps of Engineers to monitor the performance of each of its locks and analyze proposals to upgrade specific locks and lock systems. The Inland Waterways Users Board uses the data as part of its 1See Testimony of Rodney Gregory before the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Marine Trans portation, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S.
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From page 128... ...
However, the data are not used on a regular basis to track system level trends in the performance of the inland system -- information that could be helpful to policy makers in assessing overall investment require ments for the MTS. With regard to harbor channels, Congress has charged the Corps of Engineers with undertaking regular national dredging needs studies that project future cargo growth, vessel sizes, and vessel usage.
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From page 129... ...
surveyed its members on their most significant needs. The needs cited most frequently in the first survey, conducted in 1993, were facility financing, compliance with environmental regulations, dredging and material disposal, new revenue sources, and railroad and highway access improvements.
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From page 130... ...
on a scale from "excellent" to "very poor." The condition of access roads and grade crossings was most often cited as "poor" or "very poor." Assessments of Overall MTS Performance in Facilitating Commerce In recent years, efforts have been undertaken by both public and private entities to assess the performance of the MTS as a whole with regard to national commerce. The MTS Task Force sought to do so through a series of conferences involving participants from the maritime industry, labor, and government agencies (DOT 1999)
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From page 131... ...
The Coast Guard collects information to mea sure its performance in these areas: seizure rates for drugs, estimates of the number of undocumented migrants interdicted or deterred, and the number of detected foreign fishing vessel incursions. MARAD has long published periodic maritime security reports that focus on cargo theft and international criminal activities that pose threats to ports and com mercial maritime interests.
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From page 132... ...
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From page 133... ...
94911mvp_137_152 4/2/04 1:43 PM Page 133 the to water rail, potential of intermodal- advantages integrate ports integrated operations of system comparable about awareness the transportation inland an U.S.-made that of of transportation of efficiency coastal more maritime in the recognition policies measures and waterway shippers regional planning information and affordable and those information integration in inland Development cargo increase truck, More vessels Greater ism modes Security with More markets among of More ways system to net ter handle Interstate to Interstate terminal terminal capacity to to pipeline in in volume waterway interior and capacity access access highway cargo the inland roadways in roadways to of access highway, increased rail increased Interstate ports rail, access to congested and increases congested and link Less areas highways Increased large Less areas highways Increased better Greater minals works and infrastruc capacity storage terminals rail container marine capacity terminal on-dock container at container-on-barge for More efficiency More ture operations More space More terminal of in aids large major dredging at tributaries reduction loaded, in and depth fully ("intelligent") maintenance locks water maintenance especially lock handle containerships of to identified electronic navigation Increased ports capacity None More to Continued channels, Modernized backlog Coast Coast West Gulf Inland waterways
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From page 134... ...
For the most part, how ever, the databases are disconnected from one another and are designed to meet specific legislative and program requirements. The data are sel dom used to address the systemwide issues that decision makers face in allocating resources and responsibilities to the various federal programs in support of marine transportation, and they are not always well suited to this purpose.
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From page 135... ...
Department of Transportation EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency FAA Federal Aviation Administration INTERTANKO International Association of Independent Tanker Owners MARAD Maritime Administration TRB Transportation Research Board USACE U.S.
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From page 136... ...
Coast Guard Acci dent Data: Impacts of Navigation Trends on Channel Usage and Design. Department of Naval Architecture, U.S.
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