Senator Lautenberg Introduces Freight Bill

Bill To Reduce Congestion On Roads By Encouraging More Freight To Be Carried By Barges and Ships; Would Create 'Maritime Highway', Help States Improve Ports

June 19, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) today introduced a bill to reduce congestion on the nation’s roads by encouraging more freight to be carried by barges and ships. The legislation would create a grant program for ‘America’s Marine Highways’ to encourage shipping by sea or inland waterway and establish a new program to modernize port facilities to make freight movement more efficient.

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“The strength of our freight transportation system is being threatened by our overwhelmed roads, bridges and tunnels – and the simple, smart solution is to ship more of America’s goods by sea,” said Sen. Lautenberg, who chairs the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security. “Shipping by barge reduces congestion on roads, cuts emissions and energy consumption and improves safety. Our future competitiveness will greatly benefit if we improve the use of marine highways to ship goods.”

Lautenberg’s bill, the Maritime Administration Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2010, would create a grant program to establish America’s Marine Highway as an extension of the surface transportation system. A single sea vessel can take more than 450 trucks off the nation’s roads. The typical barge or ship can move one ton of cargo 576 miles on one gallon of fuel, whereas a truck would move that same cargo only 155 miles.

The bill would also establish a Port Infrastructure Development Program for local jurisdictions and port facilities to improve the capabilities of their port facilities. America’s sea ports are the critical link between all modes of transportation and the ability to move freight throughout the country. Ships carry more than 95 percent of the nation's non-North American trade by weight and 75 percent by value. In addition, approximately three-quarters of international shipments to and from the United States, measured in weight, arrive or depart by ship.

Lautenberg and Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) have previously introduced the Federal Surface Transportation Policy and Planning Act of 2009, which would take a long-term and large-scale approach to transportation planning, rather than focusing on single programs, and emphasizes importance of shipping by sea.

Source: Senator Frank R. Lautenberg