Federal Agencies

Department of Transportation (DOT)

Primary administration spokesman on maritime policy issues, DOT has the overall lead in all maritime issues, subject to coordination with other agencies having specific areas of responsibilities.

Maritime Administration (MarAd)

An agency within the Department of Transportation, the Maritime Administration has as its primary function the administration of laws enacted for the promotion and maintenance of a merchant marine for defense and commerce. The Maritime Administrator, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, heads MarAd. The spectrum of MarAd's functions include:

• Administer the Maritime Security Program (MSP).
• Provide financing guarantees (Title XI) for the construction, reconstruction, and reconditioning of ships.
• Enter into Capital Construction Fund agreements with vessel operators that provide tax deferrals on money to be used for the acquisition, construction, or reconstruction of ships.
• Oversee enforcement of cargo-reservation statutes.
• Conduct research and development activities.
• Under emergency conditions, charter government-owned ships under the Ready Reserve Force program to U.S. operators, requisition or procure ships to U.S. operators, requisition or procure ships owned by U.S. citizens, and allocate them to meet defense needs. In conjunction with the U.S. Navy, develop definition of shipyard mobilization base and sealift requirements.
• Maintain a National Defense Reserve Fleet of government-owned ships.
• Operate the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and administer federal assistance to state maritime academies.
• Develop maritime policy analysis under guidance of the Office of the Secretary of Transportation.

  Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation

  An agency headed by an administrator appointed by the President, the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation is a wholly owned government corporation, created in 1954 to construct, operate, and maintain that part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway between the Port of Montreal and Lake Erie, within the territorial limits of the United States. The Seaway is a binational waterway. The Corporation coordinates its activities with its Canadian counterpart, the Saint Lawrence Seaway Authority of Canada, particularly with regard to rules and regulations, tolls, traffic control, navigation aids, safety, channel maintenance, operating dates, and related programs designed to fully develop the "fourth seacoast" of the United States. The mission of the Corporation is to provide a safe, efficient, competitive, and reliable waterway for the movement of goods to and from the Great Lakes region of North America and overseas markets.

  
  Surface Transportation Board (STB)

  The ICC Termination Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-80) consolidated jurisdiction over port-to-port operations in the U.S. noncontiguous trades to the Surface Transportation Board, an independent regulatory agency within the Department of Transportation. A board of three presidentially appointed commissioners governs the agency. The Intercoastal Shipping Act of 1933 and the Shipping Act of 1916 guide regulatory policy for the offshore domestic trades. Regulation of domestic water carriage is addressed through tariff filing and determination of the reasonableness of freight rates.

Department of Homeland Security

Recently established, the Department of Homeland Security has three primary missions -- to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage from potential attacks and natural disasters. Approximately 20 agencies have been transferred to the new department including several that directly impact the maritime industry, namely the U.S. Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration, and the U.S. Customs Service.

U.S. Coast Guard

Currently under the umbrella of the DOT, the Coast Guard is now an agency headed by the Commandant of the Coast Guard within the Department of Homeland Security. The Coast Guard plays an important role in promoting safety and security in marine transportation and has specific regulatory responsibilities in commercial vessel safety and maritime security, including:

• Administer and enforce safety standards for the design, construction, equipment, and maintenance of commercial vessels of the United States.
• Enforce vessel personnel manning and crew qualification standards.
• Provide administrative services to a number of advisory committees including, but not limited to, the Towing Safety Advisory Committee (TSAC), the Chemical Transportation Advisory Committee (CTAC), the Merchant Marine Personnel Advisory Committee (MERPAC), and the Navigation Safety Advisory Council (NAVSAC). These committees, which were established by law, provide advice and make recommendations to the Coast Guard on safety matters relating to their specific mandates. They are comprised of representatives from industry as well as the general public.
• Administer vessel documentation laws.
• Participate in the International Maritime Organization, an agency of the United Nations established to coordinate international maritime safety requirement and implement international maritime regimes to which the U.S. is a signatory.
• Regulatory implementation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
• Regulatory implementation of the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

Established by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, the TSA will be housed under the Border and Transportation Security Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security. The mission of the TSA is to protect the Nation's transportation systems, including aviation, maritime, land and rail, to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce. Prior to its transfer to the Department of Homeland Security, the TSA was under the umbrella of the Department of Transportation.

U.S. Customs Service

Previously under the Treasury Department, the U.S. Customs Service will now fulfill its responsibilities under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security. The agency is uniquely positioned at the border/waterfront with equipment and personnel in place to perform critical tasks as part of homeland security, including the examination and tracking of the international movement of airborne and waterborne cargoes.

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Federal Maritime Commission (FMC)

An independent federal agency established in 1961 and led by five presidentially appointed commissioners, the FMC is charged with regulatory oversight of U.S. international liner shipping. The basis for U.S. regulatory policy on shipping is the Shipping Act of 1916, the Shipping Act of 1984, the Foreign Shipping Practices Act of 1988, and the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998. Generally, the FMC:

• Regulates the waterborne foreign commerce of the United States and protects against unauthorized collusive activity.
• Approves or disapproves agreements filed under the Shipping Act.
• Reviews confidential service contracts for signs of collusion and concerted action by carriers and shippers.
• Monitors tariffs to ensure that they are publicly available.
• Protects shippers, carriers, and others engaged in the U.S. foreign commerce from restrictive rules and regulations of foreign governments and from the practices of foreign-flag carriers that have an adverse effect on shipping in the U.S. trades.
• Issues passenger vessel certificates showing evidence of financial responsibility of vessel owners or charterers to pay judgments for personal injury or death or to repay fines for the nonperformance of a voyage or cruise.

Department of State

Under Secretary for Economics, Business and Agricultural Affairs

• Coordinates U.S. government responses to international shipping issues as they affect international conventions and trade practices.

  Agency for International Development (AID)

• Responsible for arranging transportation and ocean carriage of P.L.480 (Food for Peace) cargoes.

Department of Defense (DOD)

United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM)

USTRANSCOM is DOD's single manager of the Nation's defense transportation system: air, land, and sea mobility assets. Its commander-in-chief reports through the chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the Secretary of Defense. USTRANSCOM manages three component commands: the Air Force's Air Mobility Command; the Navy's Military Sealift Command; and, the Army's Military Traffic Management Command. It moves troops and equipment through coordinated use of military and commercial transportation modes in times of peace and war.

Department of the Navy

The U.S. Navy has among its many duties a major responsibility to provide the strategic sealift assets that will be used to deploy dry cargo and petroleum products required to equip and support the Nation's armed forces in a major contingency.

Military Sealift Command (MSC)

• Owns or charters a fleet of cargo vessels for logistical military support. MSC capabilities include Fast Sealift Ships, the Ready Reserve Force, commercial containership enhancement to carry combat equipment, and the Afloat Prepositioning Force. In addition, the MSC oversees a fleet of ships providing sealift services and combat logistics support for Navy ships at sea and special mission support for undersea technology. In 1987, the MSC became a part of the newly formed unified command, the United States Transportation Command.

  Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition)

• Responsible for supervising the performance of the Department of Defense Acquisition System within the Navy, including shipbuilding programs.

Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command

• Responsible for addressing national mobilization planning requirements for DOD, the Department of Transportation (MarAd), and the Department of Commerce through the coordination of shipbuilding, conversion, and repair capacity.

  Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Logistics)

• Represents the Department of the Navy in logistics decisions, mobilization, coordination, and policy groups.

Department of the Army

Corps of Engineers

• In its civil works mission, the Corps of Engineers is responsible for the nation's deep draft harbors and about 400 smaller ports handling the Nation's international trade. In addition, the Corps is responsible for the intracoastal and inland network which includes 12,000 miles of commercial navigation channels and over 200 locks and dams.

  Surface Deployment and Distribution Command

• SDDC is the Defense Department's port manager, providing DOD worldwide single port management, transportation, and traffic management services. The agency has a permanent presence in 25 ports worldwide. In each port, SDDC stages cargo, plans and directs loading and unloading, and documents cargo movements. In fiscal year 2000, the SDDC contracted for the loading and unloading of 11.4 million measurement tons of cargo, mostly military equipment and materiel. DOD cargo also includes household goods and privately owned vehicles of military and eligible DOD civilians. Through the commercial contracts it negotiates, the SDDCinfluences nearly $4 billion worth of commercial transportation services annually. SDDC is a component of the United States Transportation Command.

Department of Agriculture

Commodity Credit Corporation

• Responsible for cargo preference ocean transportation cost differential between U.S. and foreign-flag carriers chartered to carry P.L. 480 (Food for Peace) cargoes.