Thank You you for that gracious introduction. On behalf of President George W. Bush, Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, and Maritime Administrator Bill Schubert, I bring you greetings!

I would like to take this opportunity to recognize David Cree, President of Windsor Port Authority, and Bill Marshall, Harbor Master here in Windsor. I have known both for many years, and it is always a pleasure to return to this area to see old friends and make new ones.

I have been looking forward to this night since they started to clear the tables after my last time at the Windsor Marine Night. That is because so many friends are usually here. It is also because no other event each year assembles in one room so many representatives of Great Lakes commerce, ports, and shipping. No other event regularly brings together so many Canadians and Americans directly or indirectly involved in waterborne commerce.

When most Americans and Canadians think of the word "coast", the words "Atlantic", "Pacific", "Gulf", or "Arctic" come to mind. But both our nations have a fourth coast – the Great Lakes System. Unlike so many coasts elsewhere in the world, the Great Lakes are a tie that binds, not a barrier that divides.

What I am going to talk about tonight is the Marine Transportation System of the United States. I want to do so because we are on the threshold of significant, positive change for this system. Even though I will be talking about the U.S. Marine Transportation System, this system is relevant to everyone here, because it is part of a joint North American trade and transportation system. Many American imports first land at Canadian ports. And both our nations face the same capacity challenges generated by the explosive growth of world trade.

Most of us are here because of waterborne commerce. One way or another, it is in our blood. And the Great Lakes are our home. It is all second nature to us. So we just assume that the rest of the citizens of each our countries understands modern waterborne commerce – how it works, how it connects us with the global economy, and how it functions as part of our overall national transportation system. This assumption is just plain wrong.

For many of the people of North America, the maritime industry and the Marine Transportation System are invisible. As I look around this impressive gathering, I am thinking, "How could you and what you do be invisible?"

Think about it, though . . . we see trucking every day. We see cities and factories joined by railroads. On a clear day, we cant usually look up and see the trails of jet aircraft across the sky.

But most Americans never see our merchant mariners move vessels nearly a thousand feet long with cargo worth a hundred million dollars or more.

And when they do see these great ships in our ports, for some reason, many people just consider them part of the scenery.

They never see our dock- side workers unload 4,000 containers from a ship in less than 36 hours. They never see how these 4,000 containers move through our ports and connect to railroads and highways.

And most Americans never see our own Great Lakes transportation system – withand ports 700 miles from the nearest ocean –, carry the commerce and trade of the United States and its single largest trading partner, Canada.

Most Americans can drive on a bridge over an inland waterway and not know that the water below is part of a nationwide Marine Transportation System – a system that moves nearly 2˝ billion tons of cargo every year.

Yet this "invisible" network is a vital part of our economy and an essential part of national defense. And it is more important today than ever before.

whether or not this system is visible to everyone—try living without it!

Twenty years ago, there were some people who concluded, erroneously, that hhaving our own U.S. Merchant Marine, with loyal and dedicated mariners, and U.S. commercial shipbuilding was , seemed to many people to be an old-fashioned, out- of- date concept.

To be fair, tTwenty years ago, it was hard to imagine that we would ever again need sealift on the scale of World War II. And then came Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait – and the , and we needed for sealift capacity we could count on.once again. American merchant mariners –, many from the Great Lakes –, crewing commercial and U.S. Navy sealift vessels, carried 79 percent of all seaborne cargo for Operation Desert Storm.

Twenty years ago, the horrific events of September 11th, 2001 and the threat of global terrorism were hard to imagine. Most shipping analysts thought it did not matter where crews or vessels came from. Today, that may not be a prudent assumption.

Twenty years ago, it was also hard to imagine the way the global economy works today. Then, manufacturers and retailers had warehouses full of inventory. Today, "just-in-time" assembly and delivery has replaced costly storage space – making our transportation system an even more critical link in the commercial chain.

Twenty years ago, the American economy was a self-contained island compared to what it is today. Now foreign trade is nearly 27 percent of our economy and this percentage is growing.

inviting delay or disruption.Back then, efficiency was what you did to make a little more profit than your competitor. Now, it is the only way to survive.

Today’s domestic economy is actually an international economy. Foreign trade accounts for nearly 27 percent of the U.S. economy – a percentage that continues to grow.

And transportation is key to international competitiveness. Producing an We can make an excellent product, at the lowest price in the world matters little if . But we cannot compete if the differential is eaten up by congestion on our highways, at our ports, or at the intermodal connections where they come together.

U.S. foreign trade and freight volumes at our ports are expected to increase by 50 percent by 2020. Yet America’s port and intermodal freight system is increasingly operating at the limits of its capacity. Furthermore, key ports around the globe are increasing their own capacity, much of it aimed at exports to the American market. In 2009, the Port of Singapore alone will have more container capacity than our entire port system has today.

As if some of these challenges were not enough, our Marine Transportation System decision-making until now has often been carried out through an inefficient patchwork of unconnected laws, policies, programs, and agencies. At the Federal government level alone, there are seventeen agencies in six departments with responsibilities concerning this system.

These challenges have not passed without notice. Reports and studies from the public and private sector all agree on the magnitude and urgency of the problem.

However, very few people involved in commerce, trade, or transportation need reports or studies to understand the problems. If you are a truck driver moving slowly in heavy traffic on the 401 or I-75 – perhaps stuck at a border crossing – or if you are a retailer waiting for a container that was supposed to arrive yesterday, you know what growing freight volumes will mean to already strained capacity.

We also now must deal with security requirements in a post 9/11 world. Those of you who are familiar with traffic between Michigan and Ontario, with the choke points created by overload in the system, appreciate what a far-ranging challenge it is to balance efficiency of movement with security. It is in your face every time you wait your turn to cross the Ambassador Bridge.

Our ports are being pulled two ways at the same time. The same ports that must add capacity also face new and important security measures that divert available funds from investment just at the time we need it most. As the former Executive Director of the Detroit Port Authority, I know first-hand the concerns many of you have regarding unfunded government mandates for maritime security. I can assure you that the Department of Transportation and the Maritime Administration are working diligently to find that balance between trade and security.

These security needs can, and must, be addressed in ways that maintain the efficiency and productivity of the Marine Transportation System. But we cannot allow them to reduce the investment in port infrastructure that will be needed for our economy to compete in global trade.

We also know that in today’s marketplace, cargo security solutions must be global. You cannot have one cargo security system for the United States and another for Canada. You cannot have one for Central and South America, another for the European Union, and another for the Asia-Pacific region. There must be an integrated and interconnected system. Otherwise, there will only be more complexity, creating higher costs, and more delays, without necessarily increasing security. That is why we at the Department of Transportation, with our colleagues at the Department of Homeland Security and elsewhere, are working to develop worldwide solutions that balance efficiency with cargo security.

Some of you in this audience may have heard talk that the Department of Transportation and the Maritime Administration are working on a solution to these challenges. Well, I am pleased to tell you that it is not just talk.

Secretary Mineta has initiated a broad review of our maritime policies in partnership with Maritime Administrator Schubert. The objective of this review is a comprehensive Marine Transportation System/maritime industry initiative called SEA-21. It will fit with the reforms and initiatives that the Department of Transportation and the Administration are making in the other transportation modes. Yet studies and reports are not necessary for many North Americans. If you are a truck driver moving slowly in heavy traffic on the 401 or I-75, perhaps stuck at a border crossing, or if you are a retailer waiting for a container that was supposed to arrive yesterday, you know what doubling of freight volumes will mean.

And if you are an Army division commander in Iraq, you want to know when your support will get there, not if it will get there.

For all these reasons,

Our goal is to create a comprehensive Marine Transportation System initiative that is more sensitive to the conditions and performance of the maritime industry itself!

The Bush Administration and Congress have already worked together to enact a comprehensive aviation bill – Vision 100. And the Administration has sent to Congress the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act, known as SAFETEA. SAFETEA’s goal is to improve highway safety and infrastructure as well as public transportation systems.

The Department of Transportation has transformed its surface and aviation transportation modes through comprehensive programs called TEA 21 and AIR 21. The SEA-21 initiative we envision will complement these efforts and their emphasisze on integration ofg all our transportation modes, such as investment in intermodal freight connections. .

We recognize that the challenges of security and the capacity crunch coming to our ports and intermodal connectors is so great that local government or private-sector sources cannot meet them on their own. So, in the context of our review, we are focusing on ways to leverage existing Federal, local government, and private-sector funding in a fiscally responsible manner. And we want to emphasize both public and private sector partnerships, with private-sector partners every step of the way, across the modes at each level of government.

We also are working on how to encourage improved information sharing and coordination of Federal government Marine Transportation System responsibilities. And we are, in addition, developing proposals to strengthen the competitiveness and efficiency of our nation’s Merchant Marine and shipbuilding.

Finally, I want to stress to you here that we believe that there should be emphasis on Short Sea Shipping as a major element of Sea-21.

The Bush Administration is very much aware that we need to turn to the waterways to make our overall transportation system more efficient – and better able to handle the oncoming capacity crunch. Recently, the Chairman and President of Horizon Lines said that building more highways would cost $32 million a mile, and rail construction about $1 million a mile, not including land acquisition costs. As he emphasized, "Clearly this will overwhelm any practical increase in highway or rail in terms of time, financial and environmental resources, and congestion."

Short Sea Shipping, however, could become a major element in our ability to increase capacity and to integrate better waterborne transportation into our overall intermodal system. It makes sense for the economy, for the environment, and for efficiency.

Western European governments have recognized the need to move more freight on the water to ease congestion on their highways and railroads, and to mitigate environmental problems. It has worked. Today, Western Europe moves 41 percent of freight by water; in the United States, only 13 percent of our freight moves by water.

Development of Short Sea Shipping would bring new construction and new maritime jobs to both our countries. However, more than shipping and shipbuilding would benefit. Our nations’ intermodal systems would profit with expanded marine transportation. Short Sea Shipping is not about taking business and jobs from trucks and railroads. It is a way to complement an overloaded surface transportation system and add capacity to our multi-modal transportation network.

I am talking about Short Sea Shipping as though it is something new for the Great Lakes. It is not. What will be new is the emphasis.

Short Sea Shipping has been in existence in North America since colonial times. More than two centuries ago, French explorers pushed down the Great Lakes, and Antoine Cadillac, founder of Detroit, used the local waterways to trade in furs. Today, Gregg Ward's Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry is just one example how the Great Lakes region continues to integrate the use of water with the use of highways to make our transportation system more efficient and more secure. It is now clear that we need more such efforts nationwide – not just truck ferries, but better intermodal connections, more use of the waterways for commuter traffic, and better use of our inland waterways, the coastal waters, and the Great Lakes.

The areas I have mentioned tonight are just some of the ideas under consideration. I wanted all of you to be among the first to know the breadth and scope of our review and the possibilities for the SEA-21 initiative we intend to result from this review.

Our Thcomprehensive maritime is review reflects Secretary Mineta’s longstanding interest in marine transportation as part of an integrated national system. It reflects as well the President’s commitment to a strong economy and job creation.

If we do our job right today, then the people who look back twenty years from now will say that we had the vision, the foresight, and the leadership to develop the potential of our Maritime Transportation System. For many, it may still be out of sight, but it will not be out of mind. Marine

We know we cannot have a first-rate economy with second-rate transportation.

I am here today to make clear that transportation –, every one of its components –, will be recognized as is essential to our economies and to both our nations.

Thank you.

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