The U.S. Marine Transportation System: Federal Responsibilities, Funding, and Coordination

Even more than the other parts of the nation's transportation system, marine transportation is a joint private and public sector enterprise. The private sector owns and operates the vessels and most of the terminals and is responsible for the commerce that flows through the system. The public sector provides much of the infrastructure to keep the system functioning in a safe, secure, and environmentally sound manner. While the responsibility of building, maintaining, and monitoring the interstate highway system rests mainly with federal and state departments of transportation, the responsibility for the Marine Transportation System (MTS) is carried out by many federal agencies. For example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration surveys navigable waterways and issues charts depicting waterway depth as well as obstructions. The locks and dams are mostly built and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Just as many federal agencies own parts of the nation's marine transportation system, many congressional committees and subcommittees also have jurisdiction, such as the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. To improve federal coordination, budget requests, and regulatory activities and policies that impact the MTS, President Bush in 2004 directed the creation of the Cabinet-level Committee on the Marine Transportation System (CMTS). The CMTS is chaired by the secretary of the Department of Transportation and works to coordinate federal efforts through a series of subordinate-level bodies such as the coordinating board and integrated action teams. Much work still remains to be done to tap into the synergies generated from a coordinated federal government working together on this issue. The article includes a discussion of federal funding of the MTS and a matrix chart of federal agencies with significant responsibilities for MTS functions.

Published in the Proceedings of the Marine Safety and Security Council: The Coast Guard Journal of Safety and Security at Sea, p6-10, v68 n2, Summer 2011.