National Maritime Day

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, yesterday, May 22, 2016, our Nation celebrated National Maritime Day. The United States has always been and will always be a great maritime nation. My home State of Louisiana ranks first in the Nation in economic impact from America's domestic maritime industry. The American Maritime Partnership shows Louisiana's 54,850 maritime jobs pump more than $11.3 billion annually into our economy. America's robust domestic maritime industry includes vessel operators, marine terminals, shipyards, and workers engaged in the movement of cargo exclusively within the United States.

According to a study commissioned by the Transportation Institute and conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, Louisiana also ranks first in the country in maritime jobs per capita, with 1 in every 83 jobs connected to the State's domestic maritime industry, nearly twice that of any other State. Louisiana also ranks third in the Nation in shipbuilding. According to the U.S. Maritime Administration shipbuilding accounts for 29,250 jobs and more than $2.23 billion in annual economic impact for our State.

However, Congress has the responsibility for ensuring that our Nation's maritime infrastructure is adequately maintained in order for this industry to flourish. There is no greater maritime asset in the United States then the Mississippi River and its tributaries. They connect over 350 million acres of farmland to world markets via international trade through the 12,500 miles of inland navigational channels. Much of the commodities and goods produced in the heartland brought to world markets via the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico and beyond to foreign nations around the globe.

The Mississippi River Basin includes 41 percent of the continental United States, and the value of the agricultural products and the large agribusiness industry in the Mississippi River Basin produces 92 percent of the Nation's agricultural exports and 78 percent of the world's exports in feed grains and soybeans, while 60 percent of all grain exported from the United States is shipped via the Mississippi River from ports throughout the region, including the Port of New Orleans, the Port of South Louisiana, and the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. Barge traffic and navigation on the Mississippi River also carries a vast array of coal, fertilizer, cement, chemicals, and petroleum products, so any significant disruption to this navigational channel has huge consequences for the entire U.S. economy.

Unfortunately, the recent winter and spring floods in the Mississippi River Valley have severely impeded navigational traffic along significant stretches along the Mississippi River ship channel. For example, at Southwest Pass along the lower Mississippi River ship channel, the authorized draft is 47 feet, but due to the excess sand and silt washing downstream from the flooding, the ship channel had draft restrictions of 41 feet for a month earlier this year. Economically, for each foot of draft loss a vessel either on the inbound or outbound voyage must leave behind approximately $1 million, per foot, in cargo behind. This is particularly problematic because the last foot of draft is often where a vessel makes any profits. So during a month timeframe, each vessel traveling along the Mississippi River at Southwest Pass could potentially have had to leave behind $6 million in cargo, an average of 30 vessels per day moving through the channel. An unreliable ship channel threatens the viability of barge traffic along the entire Mississippi River system by raising the transportation costs to move cargo.

Navigation along the Mississippi River system is just one example of many maritime infrastructure challenges our Nation faces. Congress has the responsibility for providing the resources necessary to keep America's infrastructure open for business. Inaction is not an option if we want to keep United States competitive in the global marketplace. Across America, the domestic maritime industry includes approximately 40,000 vessels, supports 478,440 jobs, and has an annual economic impact of $92.5 billion. The industry also generates approximately $92.5 billion in wages and $10 billion in tax revenues. In honor of this quintessentially American industry and National Maritime Day, I look forward to working with my colleagues to find solutions for America's maritime infrastructure challenges.

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