Thank you. It’s nice to be here, surrounded by people who are dedicated to the well being of Jacksonville’s maritime community and the transportation industry. As one the Nation’s 14 strategic ports, Jacksonville plays an important role in the security and defense of our Nation. There were 24 commercial, Military Sealift Command and Ready Reserve Force sailings from October 2002 to May 2003 that departed Jacksonville in support of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. Over the next several weeks, the U.S. will embark on the largest logistical movement of troops and equipment since World War II. This redeployment and replenishment effort will rotate over 200,000 troops. The Port of Jacksonville will prove to be instrumental again in the next phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom and I appreciate all the hard work that goes into providing support to the Department of Defense in these efforts.

Even while we focus of this monumental sealift effort, we continue to prepare for the future. On a parallel track, we are confronting a commercial outlook that anticipates burgeoning trade, increased capacity challenges, and a greater need for intermodal efficiencies. And of course, weaving security into all of the above is a paramount consideration.

As you all know, our industry is constantly changing and evolving, from the technology we use in ship operations to the way cargo is handled at our ports. Most of our changes, however, are internal and recognizable only by those who work directly in the maritime transportation industry. As our Nation becomes more dependent on trade and our ports, and as waterways continue to serve as critical economic engines that move people and goods, the sphere of the maritime industry will grow outside the traditional boundaries that have dominated the landscape for the past several decades. While we know that the maritime industry is relevant and important to the national economy, most Americans have yet to figure out who we are and what we do. This lack of understanding has been one of the biggest challenges facing the maritime industry.

However, I am ever hopeful and optimistic that there is a sea-change taking place and that sea-change is a better understanding of the relevance of marine transportation to the national economy. We have made outreach to the port community one of my agency’s top priorities, and shaping the Maritime Administration to better meet the demands of this century has been a focus of my tenure at the Department.

As Maritime Administrator – I hope you will view me as your liaison to the Department of Transportation. I have an open-door policy with the maritime community and I hope you will consider MARAD to be a resource. My direct boss, Secretary Mineta, has challenged his leadership team at the Department of Transportation to put President Bush’s three principles for government reform into action. Our initiatives are citizen-centered, results oriented and promote innovation and competition. The Secretary has also challenged us to look beyond the horizon when considering the impact of the decisions and investments we make today.

Under Secretary Mineta’s leadership, the Department of Transportation is working to better integrate our transportation system by promoting the use of waterways to complement our rail, highway, and airborne transportation. We know we need to rethink our systems, develop modern technology that can be applied to integrated transportation systems, and improve infrastructure in order to meet the economic demands of the future.

The Secretary and his senior staff are committed to more efficient integration of our Marine Transportation System into our overall National Transportation System. For port cities like Jacksonville, this is great news and the leadership’s vision for the future certainly shapes what we do at MARAD.

Most of us recognize that increased congestion on roads, rails and ports is a significant challenge and that the larger container ships coming into our ports need more options for dispersing their cargo besides the rails and roadways. We are beginning to see industry answer these new challenges through incentives to shippers who move containers in and out of port via the waterways. Proposals for container-on-barge services to take thousands of trailer trucks off the already congested highways each year are incredibly encouraging. Complementing the efforts of the Bush Administration to enhance freight mobility, these industry-driven solutions represent something important: a change in the conventional thinking of the maritime transportation industry.

Trade is expected to grow – double, and even triple in some cases over the next two decades. As traditional surface transportation modes such as highways and rail, reach full capacity, the need to expand new and innovative transportation options will become increasingly evident.

Congested highway corridors that span the Eastern Seaboard, most notably I-95, have pointed to the need to develop short sea shipping services to meet the expansion in freight movements.

As a concept and method of shipping goods, short sea shipping will ultimately transform and strengthen our nation’s Marine Transportation System, bringing greater economic activity at our smaller ports while helping to reduce surface transportation congestion in adjacent metropolitan areas.

In order to propel and further study the potential of short sea shipping, MARAD has established a Short Sea Shipping Cooperative Program, a public-private partnership that we sponsor. This is a working group of government and industry leaders. It claims truckers and transportation planners as well as maritime industry stakeholders in its active membership. Also, the United States is working with Canada and Mexico to share information and possibly develop a NAFTA-wide integrated short sea system.

Water is now being more fully integrated into the national transportation system framework than it has been in decades. I ask that you join me in helping transform this historically and critically important mode into a more visible transportation option through maintaining a close relationship with the Maritime Administration.

Enhancing freight mobility is a priority of the Bush Administration. We know that congestion affects our environment, our quality of life and our economy. We also know that freight mobility is your lifeblood – it’s what keeps Jacksonville’s waterways operating and moving. I look forward to continuing our discussion and working together, and I thank you for this opportunity to share with you this encouraging outlook for the maritime community.