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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I got soul coming through Flying free.
Skies are blue, all the wavesit makes a room.
(00:22):
I got soul coming through,won't stop till the fifth.
(00:51):
And on top of the world, I got.
It's the last episode in ourCaptain's Log holiday series
before we break for the holidays, but, in typical maritime
fashion, we have some major newsto discuss today.
A new bill was just droppedyesterday in Congress.
(01:12):
It has the potential tosignificantly change the way the
United States appreciates andfunds its maritime sector.
Stick around, I'll let you knowwhat it proposes, what it may
change and what are some uniquethings that I don't think are
getting major attention that I'mreally encouraged by in this
bill.
Hi, welcome to, by Land and bySea, an attorney breaking down
(01:33):
the weakened supply chainpresented by the maritime
professor me.
I'm Lauren Began, founder ofMaritime Professor and Squall
Strategies.
I'm your favorite maritimeattorney.
Join me every week as we walkthrough both ocean transport and
surface transport topics in thewild world of supply chain.
As always, the guidance here isgeneral and for educational
(01:55):
purposes only.
It should not be construed tobe legal advice and there's no
attorney-client privilegecreated by this video or this
podcast.
If you need an attorney,contact an attorney.
So usually we go through our topthree stories of the week, but
this week it's a continuation.
It's the last week of ourCaptain's Log holiday series, so
let's just jump right into it.
All right, story number onewe've been kind of covering the
rulemakings.
There's no new updates here.
(02:16):
I'm going to be watching themas we continue on in the second
week of January I believe it'sJanuary 10th, but as a reminder
we saw the detention to mergebilling practices rule and the
unreasonable refusal to deal andnegotiate with respect to
vessel space accommodations,both finalized in the year 2024
out of the Federal MaritimeCommission.
If you're unfamiliar witheither of those, you certainly
probably are familiar with theD&D rule.
(02:37):
Check out that unreasonablerefusal to deal and negotiate
rule.
That's important.
What we're looking forward to in2025, a formalized process for
charge complaints.
It was brought up at one of theFMC hearings or meetings.
A formalized charge complaintsprocess will be making the
rounds in 2025, just as Congressdirected the FMC to do in the
(03:00):
Oceanship Reform Act of 2022.
They said charge complaints area thing they created it.
Fmc had to kind of quicklycreate their process for that.
Now they're going through themore formal.
So this is going to have noticeand comment, meaning you're
going to be able to submit somecomments.
They're going to put out whatthe process is that they've been
going through and then, if youhave thoughts on that, if you
like it, if you don't like it,if you think that they aren't
(03:21):
capturing some additionalcharges that you think should be
included in charge complaints,put all that in there, get your
thoughts ready.
This is going to open up in2025.
Story number two the petitions.
Again, we're watching twodifferent petitions here.
We have a petition on thatfirst rule that we just talked
about attention to verge billingpractices and we have a
(03:41):
petition on the unreasonablereason to deal and negotiate
with respective asset-basedaccommodations.
I'm going to continue to watchthese in 2025.
We should get some clarity onthis in 2025, hopefully.
I can't imagine that it wouldgo too too long here, but we'll
see.
I mean litigation takes a while.
So what we brought up last week, though, that's really
interesting.
(04:01):
Truckers have entered the chatright.
The American TruckingAssociation, agtc, association
of Bi-State Motor Carriers,california Trucking Association,
harbor Trucking Association andNew Jersey Motor Truck
Association all filed a jointamicus curiae brief.
So what does that mean?
It's a friend of the court.
They're offering additionalinformation.
Basically, since the issue atkind of hand at the D and D is
(04:22):
hinging on motor carriers andtheir inability to be directly
billed or their their directcontractual relationship, take
motor carriers out of those whocan be billed, it makes sense
that they'd want to weigh in.
So we'll we'll continue towatch that story.
Number three the internationallongshoremen's and us maritime
Alliance continuing discussionover the master contract.
(04:44):
We've been talking we broughtthis up a few weeks ago maybe I
think it was maybe last weekalready the ILA and
President-elect Trump are stilltouting their close relationship
.
Right, they came out on X, theycame out on Facebook.
They were just showing off thisrelationship of the ILA being
close to President-elect Trumpand then, almost immediately, we
(05:07):
saw in the industry saying, ohgeez, well, this means we're
definitely going toward a strike.
I don't necessarily think thatthis automatically sends us into
a strike, as many aresuggesting.
I think I'm not really surewhere this will go and I'll
admit that I was surprised bythe close alliance that was
publicized.
But remember, don't take allmessaging at face value.
(05:28):
As we've seen throughout thisnegotiation, this has been
happening in the public eye butthrough media statements.
Right, they've been kind ofnegotiating and posturing
through media.
So it might be anover-exaggeration, I don't know.
That's what we've been seeing.
We've probably seen more mediastatements than what's even been
(05:49):
happening in backroomclosed-door negotiations,
certainly informal, right.
We haven't heard many formalnegotiations.
I think above all, we need toget back to a formal negotiation
or some sort of if you can't dothe formal, just find something
to agree on.
But the formal negotiationobviously is how you get there.
But I still remain hopeful here.
If nothing else, the fact thatthe incoming administration
(06:11):
knows that this is a problemalready and is addressing it way
in advance.
I reported previously that wesaw reports suggesting that that
feeling of perhaps the Bidenadministration being kind of
delayed or late to the party intheir reaction we saw a report
saying that might have had sometruth to it.
So I just love that this ishappening.
It happened about five weeks inadvance of the about a month in
(06:35):
advance of the expiration of theinterim contract, right.
So we had, october 1st toOctober 3rd, a port strike.
As we all know, the mastercontract expired September 30th.
They have this interimagreement that agrees on wages a
66% wage increase.
That agreement expires andbasically this agreement is just
a.
We're going to hold this salaryincrease agreement so that
(06:57):
we're not currently striking.
So it got everybody back towork as of January 15th that
expires.
So I'm encouraged that we'rehaving conversations happening
here early in the process before, well before we get to that
January 15th.
I don't know, I just wouldn'tit be great if we had a contract
this week, next week, sometimeover the holiday?
(07:19):
I think as we get into JanuaryI'm going to get less and less
hopeful.
But there's just somethingabout this that feels like we
might be heading in a betterdirection than last time.
But we'll see, we'll see.
It's also very I mean,president-elect Trump took a
strong stance by coming outfully in support of the ILA,
(07:40):
basically hand in hand, arm inarm with Harold Daggett and his
son.
So we'll see, we'll see howthis all plays out.
Story number three FMCcommissioner and chairman news.
We have no new updates here.
We still haven't had a chairmandesignated.
Again, there's some movementtoward Commissioner Dye becoming
perhaps the chairman A letterwritten by a fellow commissioner
, fmc Commissioner Lou Sola.
(08:01):
But we haven't heard anythingformal here.
And there's been musings, Iguess, on potential new
commissioners coming in, becauseagain we need one.
We have a commissioner vacancythat will be filled by a
Republican.
There's been some namesfloating around.
We'll see what comes of that.
I only like to report thepublicly available, the real
(08:22):
story as we see it.
So I haven't seen anything inthe news yet on that, so I'll
let you know when I do.
All right, this is the big topicof the week.
I wanted to make sure that wehit this and that this kind of
stayed a quicker conversation.
But shipbuilding and harborinfrastructure for prosperity
and security for American Act of2024 or the Ships for America
(08:44):
Act of 2024.
Look, mostly this has beencalled the Kelly-Waltz bill.
If you've been kind of in themaritime world, the DC maritime
world, you've been hearing aboutthis Kelly-Waltz bill.
I mean, for about a year, maybeeven a little bit longer than a
year.
They've been working throughwith industry stakeholders
making sure both Senator Kellyand Congressman Waltz have been
working with industrystakeholders to make sure that
(09:05):
this bill made sense for themaritime industry, made sense
that it wasn't just congressmansuperimposing ideas, but that it
was actually kind of anindustry-led conversation Again.
So this is Congressman MikeWaltz of Florida.
He's actually been tapped to bethe national security advisor
to the president.
So I think that's a good thingthat this has support of now
(09:28):
someone who will be rising tothe national security advisor.
But then also this had supportwhen there was a kind of
briefing or a smaller packagereleased I think was last spring
that included Congressman MarcoRubio as part of it.
I think I got his title wrong.
Marco Rubio has been nominatedto be the US Secretary of State,
(09:50):
is the part here.
So it's important because hewill also be elevating to a
higher level or he's beennominated certainly to a US
Secretary of State, so to highranking potentially.
Officials in the US governmentwere drafters and involved in
this bill's creation, which tome says that even if this bill
(10:11):
doesn't have legs right becausejust because the bill's proposed
doesn't mean that it's going togo anywhere but even if this
doesn't go anywhere and I dothink that ultimately this will
be adopted in some form, even ifthese are high level roles that
these men will likely move into, and to me that says that these
maritime issues are going torise to the top instead of being
an afterthought, as it kind offelt like maritime has been.
(10:33):
And also look if these aremaritime, if these are security
roles, especially CongressmanWaltz of Florida if he's moving
into a security role.
To me, that says maritimesecurity will finally be
appropriately attached tonational security.
You and I already know thatright, maritime security is
national security, but it's niceto see that at the highest
levels of the US government.
(10:54):
I'd also like to point out thisis a bipartisan bill.
So even though we have thesetwo gentlemen from the
Republican Party moving forwardor moving either moving or being
nominated to move this was alsoDemocrat co-sponsored and
authored.
So Senator Kelly is a Democratand Congressman Walz is a
Republican.
All right, so let's get into theactual bill.
(11:15):
So that's all kind of thepre-information about this bill,
but reasons why I think that itprobably has some good, some
ability to get passed.
It's a big shift, it's a bigchange, it's a big bill.
There's a lot in here, but Ithink that it's necessary for us
to have a new I would almostsay reinvigoration, but like new
(11:37):
invigoration into the maritimeindustry.
Okay, so Senator Kelly put anannouncement on his website and
this is I'm going to kind ofrough phrase what the
announcement said and interjectas appropriate.
So it says the bipartisan,bicameral bill will fuel US
economy, strengthen nationalsecurity by responding to
China's threat over the oceans.
It says currently the number ofUS flag vessels in
(11:59):
international commerce is 80.
China has 5,500.
That's not an over-exaggeration, that's true.
Us flag vessels ininternational commerce is
probably less than 80, and Chinadoes have about 5,500.
So this is something that Idon't think was understood by
many in society, but this is amajor problem.
(12:22):
So today, senator Mark Kelly,senator Todd Young,
representative John Garamendiand Representative Trent Kelly,
and I think that theintroduction probably had to
change because even though thiswas the Kelly Waltz bill with
Waltz being tapped for nationalsecurity advisor, that's
probably perhaps why they had tochange the those who introduced
this.
But it says introduce theshipbuilding and harbor
(12:44):
infrastructure for up forprosperity and security ships
for America Act and HarborInfrastructure for Prosperity
and Security Ships for AmericaAct.
It says comprehensivelegislation to revitalize the US
shipbuilding and commercialmaritime industries After
decades of neglect.
The United States has aweakened shipbuilding capacity
and declining commercialshipping fleet that is dwarfed
by China and a diminishedability to supply the US
military during wartime.
(13:05):
I mean that kind ofencapsulates it right?
I mean it certainly is weakenedship building capacity, decline
in commercial shipping fleetand diminished ability to supply
the US military during wartime.
It continues on the historicbipartisan proposal would
restore American leadershipacross the oceans by
establishing national oversightand consistent funding for US
(13:27):
maritime policy.
Incentivizing domesticshipbuilding, enabling US flag
vessels to better compete ininternational commerce,
rebuilding the US shipyardindustrial base and expanding
the mariner and shipyardworkforce those are some of the
most major topics in maritimethat the US can undertake.
Certainly, national oversightand consistent funding.
I think what they're showinghere is that no-transcript.
(14:15):
That's what most people aregoing to be talking about that
domestic shipbuilding and the USflagging, trying to get more
presence in internationalcommerce there.
Rebuilding the US shipyardindustrial base, shipbuilding
and everything included in USflagging is going to be kind of
the story here.
But expanding the mariner andshipyard workforce the workforce
(14:36):
is also important.
Continuing on with thisannouncement we've always been a
maritime nation, but the truthis we've lost ground to China,
who now dominates internationalshipping and can build merchant
and military ships much morequickly than we can, as a quote
(14:56):
in this announcement saidSenator Kelly, a US Navy veteran
and the first US MerchantMarine Academy graduate to serve
in Congress.
It continues on his quote tosay the Ships for America Act is
the answer to this challenge bysupporting shipbuilding,
shipping and workforcedevelopment.
It will strengthen supplychains, reduce our reliance on
foreign vessels, put Americansto work in good-paying jobs,
jobs and support the Navy andCoast Guard shipbuilding needs.
I'm excited to introduce thiscomprehensive, fully paid for
legislation today, alongside myRepublican and Democrat
(15:17):
colleagues and our partnersrepresenting all parts of the
industry, and together we'regoing to work together to get
this effort across the finishline.
So that was all the finishquote there.
This is important.
I think that this is longoverdue, but such a great
inertia movement for themaritime industry and for it to
be paid for, so I'm not going togo into all of that.
But basically they've been aspart of this proposal.
(15:40):
Have tax incentives and ways ofkind of moving things around.
A trust fund for maritime inhere, so maritime security trust
fund, so it would reinvest.
It says well, let me just getto the background.
The announcement has a bulletpointed section that kind of
goes top level of what'shappening here.
So the Ships for America Act.
I'm just going to call it theShips Act.
(16:01):
That's what I've been callingit.
The Ships Act.
Kelly Waltz Bill is what itused to be.
Now it's going to be called theSHIPS Act so coordinate US
maritime policy by establishingthe position of maritime
security advisor within theWhite House, who would lead an
interagency maritime securityboard tasked with making whole
of government strategicdecisions for how to implement a
national maritime strategy.
That has been something thathas been attempted multiple
(16:24):
iterations and never quitegotten there A national maritime
strategy, something that candirect and move forward so that
we have a roadmap for where wewant to go and be as a maritime
nation.
We've fallen away from that,and so having a maritime advisor
, a maritime security advisorand a maritime security board at
the White House that will helpcreate and make a whole of
(16:48):
government strategic decisionsfor national maritime strategy,
it's a really important thing.
The bill also establishes amaritime security trust fund
that would reinvest duties andfees paid by the maritime
industry into maritime securityprograms and infrastructure
supporting maritime commerce.
That's that first bullet in thisoverview.
What this is also saying to me.
Did you hear how many timessecurity was, as I said,
(17:14):
maritime security is nationalsecurity, and so the importance
and the need for this rises tothe level of all other national
security initiatives that wehave.
The second bullet hereestablish a national goal of
expanding the US flaginternational fleet by 250 ships
in 10 years.
That is an aggressive number.
250 ships in 10 years meansstill 10 years, but 250 ships.
(17:38):
To expand the US flaginternational fleet by creating
the Strategic Commercial FleetProgram, which would facilitate
the development of a fleet ofcommercially operated US flagged
American crude and domesticallybuilt merchant vessels that can
operate competitively ininternational commerce.
Great More US flag vessels,which also means more jobs for
(17:58):
US mariners.
If we're going to up mariners,because we have a severe
shortage in mariners, we needjobs for them and US flag
vessels is a great way to dothat.
The next bullet enhance thecompetitiveness of US flag
vessels in internationalcommerce by establishing a
rulemaking committee oncommercial maritime regulations
and standards to cut through theUS Coast Guard's bureaucracy
(18:19):
and red tape that limits theinternational competitiveness of
US flag vessels.
Requiring the government-fundedcargo move aboard US flag
vessels and requiring a portionof commercial goods imported
from China to move aboard USflag vessels starting in 2029.
A little jab to the Coast Guardthere, but this is interesting,
right?
I think that this will.
They're trying to create alongstanding relationship with
(18:42):
the government and maritime butalso that incentive, right.
So government funding cargomoving aboard US flag vessels
that's pretty common, orcertainly that's a at least in
part existing rule part existingrule, but this requiring a
portion of commercial goodsimported from China to move
aboard US flag vessels.
That's interesting.
I think there's some tax breaksthat are associated with that
(19:04):
in the bill the bill justdropped yesterday, so I'm still
kind of sorting through all ofit.
But they're trying to not justdirect people to change things
right, they don't want to justdirect the market to move, but
they're trying to findincentivization ways of doing
that.
All right, continuing on Expandthe US shipyard industrial base
for both military and commercialocean-going vessels by
(19:25):
establishing a 25% investmenttax credit and here's where they
start talking about some ofthese tax credits by
establishing a 25% investmenttax credit for shipyard
investments.
Transforming the Title XIFederal Ship Financing Program
Title XI Ship Financing is kindof already there, but
transforming it into a revolvingfund, it says and establishing
a shipbuilding financialincentives program to support
(19:47):
innovative approaches todomestic ship building and ship
repair.
Continuing on with the bulletsaccelerate US leadership in next
generation ship designmanufacturing process and ship
energy systems by establishingthe US leadership in next
generation ship designmanufacturing process and ship
energy systems, by establishingthe US Center for Maritime
Innovation, cool right R&D formaritime, which would create
regional hubs across the country.
So we're looking at a whole ofthe US movement toward let's
(20:13):
regain our presence as amaritime nation and let's be
good at it.
Let's have cool tech or perhapsnot cool tech, but cool designs
next generation ship design,right, like let's be smart about
how we do this and let's becutting edge front instead of
just old dusty, right.
So that's my feeling here isthat we're moving toward let's
(20:35):
be good at this, we're going todo it, let's do it, but let's
also be good at it.
The final bullet here makehistoric investments in maritime
workforce by establishing amaritime and shipbuilding
recruiting campaign, allowingmariners to retain their
credentials through a newlyestablished Merchant Marine
Career Retention Program,investing in long overdue
infrastructure needs for the USMerchant Marine Academy and
supporting state maritimeacademies and centers for
(20:57):
excellence for domestic maritimeworkforce training and
education.
The bill also makes longoverdue changes to streamline
and modernize the US Coast Guardmerchant marine credentialing
system.
Look, there's a lot in here andeverybody obviously is going to
be talking about the push forincreased shipbuilding and
maritime security elements, butthere's a few other things that
(21:17):
I do want to point out.
I think they're kind ofcaptured but they certainly,
like I said, the shipbuildingand maritime security elements.
But there's a few other thingsthat I do want to point out.
I think they're kind ofcaptured but they certainly,
like I said, the shipbuildingand maritime security are going
to be the top levelconversations that people are
going to have.
But there's a workforcedevelopment sector section here
and there's some greatincentives in there for mariners
.
And actually I'd like to saythat this parallels some of the
Maritime Transportation SystemNational Advisory Committee, so
the MITSNAC, the FederalAdvisory Committee, to
(21:38):
Department of Transportationthrough MARAD.
It's the Federal AdvisoryCommittee, it's the equivalent,
basically, of the NationalShipper Advisory Committee that
we often talk about at the FMC.
This is over at DOT MARAD.
Mitsnac has had some parallelrecommendations here, and so I
love to see some of these greatideas right, and they're
happening kind of acrossdifferent conversations and I
(22:01):
love to see that some of themmade their way in here.
So, like I said, workforcedevelopment, there is a section
that suggests that, look, publicstudent loan forgiveness, if
we're going to have the programthen and it's pretty expansive
it should have merchant marinersin it, right, I mean it goes
there's Peace Corps.
There's all different kind ofqualifications of government
(22:22):
service under this publicstudent loan forgiveness or
public service.
The Merchant Mariners shouldcertainly be part of that and so
I'm happy to see that publicstudent loan forgiveness is
included in here.
To say Merchant Mariners shouldbe part of that.
They also have a section in thisbill on non-competitive
eligibility for federalemployment.
It says this section allowsindividuals who one, have
(22:44):
graduated from the US MerchantMaritime Academy and met all
their cadet commitment agreementrequirements and two, are
credentialed US merchantmariners with an officer or
rating endorsement who've servedat least seven years at sea, to
be eligible for non-competitivefederal employment.
So this is similar, it says, tohiring preference afforded to
(23:04):
veterans or Peace Corpsvolunteers.
So there's a veteran'spreference for seeking federal
employment.
This is going to say look, ifyou were a merchant mariner,
you're going to get a similarhiring preference if you kind of
hit all these marks.
But great, right.
I mean it's a service and itshould be treated as such.
(23:26):
For those who are merchantmariners, who are in this
service, they should have thesepreferences afforded to them.
Military to mariner we've talkedabout this.
So military to mariner helpsuse some of the qualifications
and sea time that militarymembers have to help translate
that into a Mariner program, aMariner credential.
(23:46):
So this says MilitaryCandidates to Mariner Careers
Recruitment Exchange.
This section requires theDepartment of Defense to
encourage military recruiters torecommend careers in the
maritime industry to recruitswho don't necessarily qualify
for US military service but whowish to serve at sea or work in
a shipyard of the United States.
It requires the DOD toestablish a mechanism to
introduce these recruits to themaritime administration.
(24:08):
We're then required to providethese recruits with appropriate
maritime industry careerresources and handoffs.
It's trying to find another wayin for those who maybe have sea
time or want to serve at sea todo it, and so and I love to see
it right Having moreencouragement into merchant
(24:29):
mariners and merchant marinesand maritime careers is great.
It also has a 10-year campusmodernization plan for Merchant
Marine Academies and alsothey're saying in this proposal
to elevate the US MerchantMarine Academy to be equally
considered to the other fourmilitary service academies.
Again, this is a service.
This is a service to thecountry, so I'd love to see that
(24:55):
that's included.
Like I said, there's lots oftax credits here for
maritime-related activities andexpenditures.
Love to see that that'sincluded.
Like I said, there's lots oftax credits here for maritime
related activities andexpenditures Great to see.
There's also a section thatpulls the conversation closer to
the White House.
I talked about this a littlebit, but it creates that
maritime security advisor and amaritime security board excuse
(25:15):
me will coordinate nationalmaritime affairs and policy,
including maintaining andupdating this national maritime
strategy.
Like I said, we've been tryingto do this for years.
Here it is.
It's starting to move forward.
The bill establishes the officeof the maritime security advisor
in the executive office of thepresident.
The maritime security advisoris authorized to appoint such
officers and employees as themaritime security advisor may
(25:36):
deem necessary.
This section also establishes aMaritime Security Board which
is based within the White House.
So you have the advisor andthen you also have this board,
led by the Maritime SecurityAdvisor and consists of
representatives from all federalagencies with responsibilities
for the maritime industry.
So they're saying look, we wantto pull in reps from all these
federal agencies dealing withmaritime.
(25:57):
The board, which has voting andnon-voting members, shall be
responsible for the coordinationof all efforts related to this
national maritime strategy andgenerally marine transportation
system of the United States,including establishing target
numbers for the size of themaritime security fleets.
Conducting independentoversight of cargo preference
requirements.
Coordinating national effortsto develop a robust maritime
(26:19):
workforce Of course we have todo that, we have to develop a
robust maritime workforce.
Establishing nationalpriorities for research and
development of next-gentechnologies in the shipping and
maritime industries I thinkthat's so cool, that's great.
Coordinating interagencyefforts to privilege US vessels
operating in internationalcommerce while maintaining US
(26:39):
international obligations.
So this is trying to figure outa way, well, to help boost up
US vessels right operating ininternational commerce.
Protecting vessels of theUnited States from physical or
cyber threats so how do we makethem more secure and conducting
oversight of the MaritimeSecurity Trust Fund.
So all great things right.
(27:01):
That's all the prerogatives,basically, of the Maritime
Security Board led by thatMaritime Security Advisor.
I mentioned the MaritimeTransportation System National
Advisory Committee, the SMITSNAC.
This is actually now shiftingSMITSNAC a bit and this is
interesting because now, like Isaid, it's an advisory board
made up of industry experts.
It currently reports to theSecretary of Transportation at
(27:24):
the US Department ofTransportation.
This is moving it over toreport to the Maritime Security
Board.
So this is private industrythat makes up this federal
advisory committee is now sayinglook, let's make that federal
advisory committee advising theMaritime Security Board from
kind of letting these federalemployees or these federal
(27:45):
members on this MaritimeSecurity Board, let's let them
know what's happening in theindustry from a private, you
know experts of the industrygroup.
And they also say that thisMITSNAC should then make
technical updates to how membersare appointed to serve on the
committee.
But, yeah, this is big news,moving the Midsnack over from
DOT, if this gets adopted, tothis Maritime Security Board
(28:06):
that would be at the White House.
I'd like to mention the FMC wasnot forgotten here.
I always love to see it whenthe FMC is not forgotten on a
national stage.
On a national stage, they sayin this proposal that the FMC
should report on vessels of theUnited States, requiring the FMC
to submit an annual report tothe Maritime Security Board,
this White House group andappropriate congressional
(28:28):
committees, evaluating thecompetitiveness of US vessels in
foreign commerce, which theboard will then use to inform
the National Maritime Strategy.
So this is a lot of really goodkind of, from all different
angles, maritime movement, and Ithink that this is really
comprehensive.
I think that they hit some ofthe major topics that have been
(28:48):
lagging and forgotten.
It feels like and yes, like Isaid, this is certainly a
shipbuilding bill, but itexpands to focus on maritime for
the United States as a wholeand how we return to be a
compelling and a importantmaritime nation.
So that's it.
Like I said, I wanted this tobe fairly quick.
(29:10):
I guess we're just under a halfhour here.
So that's it for this week.
I'm going to continue to watcheverything that's happening over
the holiday season, but takesome time for your family, take
some time for the holidays.
Happy holidays, merry Christmas, happy New Year to everybody.
And we're going to be rightback here the second week of
January, five days before apotential port strike.
(29:31):
We'll see if we have anagreement before that.
But, as always, the GuidanceService General for Educational
Purposes.
It should not be consideredlegal advice directly related to
your matter.
If you need an attorney,contact an attorney, but if you
have specific legal questions,feel free to reach out to my
legal company, squall Strategies.
Otherwise, for the non-legalquestions, the e-learning and
general industry information andinsights, come find me at the
Maritime Professor.
If you like these videos, let meknow, comment, like and share.
(29:53):
If you want to listen to theseepisodes on demand or if you
missed any previous episodes.
Check out the podcast by Landonby Sea.
If you prefer to see the video,they live on my YouTube page by
Landon by Sea, presented by theMaritime Professor.
While you're at it, check outour website,
maritimeprofessorcom.
So until about January 10th Ithink it is yep, january 10th,
friday.
This is Lauren Began, theMaritime Professor, and you've
(30:14):
just listened to by Land and bySea.
See you next time.
I got soul coming through Flying free.
Skies are blue, all the wavesit makes a room.
(00:22):
I got soul coming through,won't stop till the fifth.
(00:51):
And on top of the world, I got.
It's the last episode in ourCaptain's Log holiday series
before we break for the holidays, but, in typical maritime
fashion, we have some major newsto discuss today.
A new bill was just droppedyesterday in Congress.
(01:12):
It has the potential tosignificantly change the way the
United States appreciates andfunds its maritime sector.
Stick around, I'll let you knowwhat it proposes, what it may
change and what are some uniquethings that I don't think are
getting major attention that I'mreally encouraged by in this
bill.
Hi, welcome to, by Land and bySea, an attorney breaking down
(01:33):
the weakened supply chainpresented by the maritime
professor me.
I'm Lauren Began, founder ofMaritime Professor and Squall
Strategies.
I'm your favorite maritimeattorney.
Join me every week as we walkthrough both ocean transport and
surface transport topics in thewild world of supply chain.
As always, the guidance here isgeneral and for educational
(01:55):
purposes only.
It should not be construed tobe legal advice and there's no
attorney-client privilegecreated by this video or this
podcast.
If you need an attorney,contact an attorney.
So usually we go through our topthree stories of the week, but
this week it's a continuation.
It's the last week of ourCaptain's Log holiday series, so
let's just jump right into it.
All right, story number onewe've been kind of covering the
rulemakings.
There's no new updates here.
(02:16):
I'm going to be watching themas we continue on in the second
week of January I believe it'sJanuary 10th, but as a reminder
we saw the detention to mergebilling practices rule and the
unreasonable refusal to deal andnegotiate with respect to
vessel space accommodations,both finalized in the year 2024
out of the Federal MaritimeCommission.
If you're unfamiliar witheither of those, you certainly
probably are familiar with theD&D rule.
(02:37):
Check out that unreasonablerefusal to deal and negotiate
rule.
That's important.
What we're looking forward to in2025, a formalized process for
charge complaints.
It was brought up at one of theFMC hearings or meetings.
A formalized charge complaintsprocess will be making the
rounds in 2025, just as Congressdirected the FMC to do in the
(03:00):
Oceanship Reform Act of 2022.
They said charge complaints area thing they created it.
Fmc had to kind of quicklycreate their process for that.
Now they're going through themore formal.
So this is going to have noticeand comment, meaning you're
going to be able to submit somecomments.
They're going to put out whatthe process is that they've been
going through and then, if youhave thoughts on that, if you
like it, if you don't like it,if you think that they aren't
(03:21):
capturing some additionalcharges that you think should be
included in charge complaints,put all that in there, get your
thoughts ready.
This is going to open up in2025.
Story number two the petitions.
Again, we're watching twodifferent petitions here.
We have a petition on thatfirst rule that we just talked
about attention to verge billingpractices and we have a
(03:41):
petition on the unreasonablereason to deal and negotiate
with respective asset-basedaccommodations.
I'm going to continue to watchthese in 2025.
We should get some clarity onthis in 2025, hopefully.
I can't imagine that it wouldgo too too long here, but we'll
see.
I mean litigation takes a while.
So what we brought up last week, though, that's really
interesting.
(04:01):
Truckers have entered the chatright.
The American TruckingAssociation, agtc, association
of Bi-State Motor Carriers,california Trucking Association,
harbor Trucking Association andNew Jersey Motor Truck
Association all filed a jointamicus curiae brief.
So what does that mean?
It's a friend of the court.
They're offering additionalinformation.
Basically, since the issue atkind of hand at the D and D is
(04:22):
hinging on motor carriers andtheir inability to be directly
billed or their their directcontractual relationship, take
motor carriers out of those whocan be billed, it makes sense
that they'd want to weigh in.
So we'll we'll continue towatch that story.
Number three the internationallongshoremen's and us maritime
Alliance continuing discussionover the master contract.
(04:44):
We've been talking we broughtthis up a few weeks ago maybe I
think it was maybe last weekalready the ILA and
President-elect Trump are stilltouting their close relationship
.
Right, they came out on X, theycame out on Facebook.
They were just showing off thisrelationship of the ILA being
close to President-elect Trumpand then, almost immediately, we
(05:07):
saw in the industry saying, ohgeez, well, this means we're
definitely going toward a strike.
I don't necessarily think thatthis automatically sends us into
a strike, as many aresuggesting.
I think I'm not really surewhere this will go and I'll
admit that I was surprised bythe close alliance that was
publicized.
But remember, don't take allmessaging at face value.
(05:28):
As we've seen throughout thisnegotiation, this has been
happening in the public eye butthrough media statements.
Right, they've been kind ofnegotiating and posturing
through media.
So it might be anover-exaggeration, I don't know.
That's what we've been seeing.
We've probably seen more mediastatements than what's even been
(05:49):
happening in backroomclosed-door negotiations,
certainly informal, right.
We haven't heard many formalnegotiations.
I think above all, we need toget back to a formal negotiation
or some sort of if you can't dothe formal, just find something
to agree on.
But the formal negotiationobviously is how you get there.
But I still remain hopeful here.
If nothing else, the fact thatthe incoming administration
(06:11):
knows that this is a problemalready and is addressing it way
in advance.
I reported previously that wesaw reports suggesting that that
feeling of perhaps the Bidenadministration being kind of
delayed or late to the party intheir reaction we saw a report
saying that might have had sometruth to it.
So I just love that this ishappening.
It happened about five weeks inadvance of the about a month in
(06:35):
advance of the expiration of theinterim contract, right.
So we had, october 1st toOctober 3rd, a port strike.
As we all know, the mastercontract expired September 30th.
They have this interimagreement that agrees on wages a
66% wage increase.
That agreement expires andbasically this agreement is just
a.
We're going to hold this salaryincrease agreement so that
(06:57):
we're not currently striking.
So it got everybody back towork as of January 15th that
expires.
So I'm encouraged that we'rehaving conversations happening
here early in the process before, well before we get to that
January 15th.
I don't know, I just wouldn'tit be great if we had a contract
this week, next week, sometimeover the holiday?
(07:19):
I think as we get into JanuaryI'm going to get less and less
hopeful.
But there's just somethingabout this that feels like we
might be heading in a betterdirection than last time.
But we'll see, we'll see.
It's also very I mean,president-elect Trump took a
strong stance by coming outfully in support of the ILA,
(07:40):
basically hand in hand, arm inarm with Harold Daggett and his
son.
So we'll see, we'll see howthis all plays out.
Story number three FMCcommissioner and chairman news.
We have no new updates here.
We still haven't had a chairmandesignated.
Again, there's some movementtoward Commissioner Dye becoming
perhaps the chairman A letterwritten by a fellow commissioner
, fmc Commissioner Lou Sola.
(08:01):
But we haven't heard anythingformal here.
And there's been musings, Iguess, on potential new
commissioners coming in, becauseagain we need one.
We have a commissioner vacancythat will be filled by a
Republican.
There's been some namesfloating around.
We'll see what comes of that.
I only like to report thepublicly available, the real
(08:22):
story as we see it.
So I haven't seen anything inthe news yet on that, so I'll
let you know when I do.
All right, this is the big topicof the week.
I wanted to make sure that wehit this and that this kind of
stayed a quicker conversation.
But shipbuilding and harborinfrastructure for prosperity
and security for American Act of2024 or the Ships for America
(08:44):
Act of 2024.
Look, mostly this has beencalled the Kelly-Waltz bill.
If you've been kind of in themaritime world, the DC maritime
world, you've been hearing aboutthis Kelly-Waltz bill.
I mean, for about a year, maybeeven a little bit longer than a
year.
They've been working throughwith industry stakeholders
making sure both Senator Kellyand Congressman Waltz have been
working with industrystakeholders to make sure that
(09:05):
this bill made sense for themaritime industry, made sense
that it wasn't just congressmansuperimposing ideas, but that it
was actually kind of anindustry-led conversation Again.
So this is Congressman MikeWaltz of Florida.
He's actually been tapped to bethe national security advisor
to the president.
So I think that's a good thingthat this has support of now
(09:28):
someone who will be rising tothe national security advisor.
But then also this had supportwhen there was a kind of
briefing or a smaller packagereleased I think was last spring
that included Congressman MarcoRubio as part of it.
I think I got his title wrong.
Marco Rubio has been nominatedto be the US Secretary of State,
(09:50):
is the part here.
So it's important because hewill also be elevating to a
higher level or he's beennominated certainly to a US
Secretary of State, so to highranking potentially.
Officials in the US governmentwere drafters and involved in
this bill's creation, which tome says that even if this bill
(10:11):
doesn't have legs right becausejust because the bill's proposed
doesn't mean that it's going togo anywhere but even if this
doesn't go anywhere and I dothink that ultimately this will
be adopted in some form, even ifthese are high level roles that
these men will likely move into, and to me that says that these
maritime issues are going torise to the top instead of being
an afterthought, as it kind offelt like maritime has been.
(10:33):
And also look if these aremaritime, if these are security
roles, especially CongressmanWaltz of Florida if he's moving
into a security role.
To me, that says maritimesecurity will finally be
appropriately attached tonational security.
You and I already know thatright, maritime security is
national security, but it's niceto see that at the highest
levels of the US government.
(10:54):
I'd also like to point out thisis a bipartisan bill.
So even though we have thesetwo gentlemen from the
Republican Party moving forwardor moving either moving or being
nominated to move this was alsoDemocrat co-sponsored and
authored.
So Senator Kelly is a Democratand Congressman Walz is a
Republican.
All right, so let's get into theactual bill.
(11:15):
So that's all kind of thepre-information about this bill,
but reasons why I think that itprobably has some good, some
ability to get passed.
It's a big shift, it's a bigchange, it's a big bill.
There's a lot in here, but Ithink that it's necessary for us
to have a new I would almostsay reinvigoration, but like new
(11:37):
invigoration into the maritimeindustry.
Okay, so Senator Kelly put anannouncement on his website and
this is I'm going to kind ofrough phrase what the
announcement said and interjectas appropriate.
So it says the bipartisan,bicameral bill will fuel US
economy, strengthen nationalsecurity by responding to
China's threat over the oceans.
It says currently the number ofUS flag vessels in
(11:59):
international commerce is 80.
China has 5,500.
That's not an over-exaggeration, that's true.
Us flag vessels ininternational commerce is
probably less than 80, and Chinadoes have about 5,500.
So this is something that Idon't think was understood by
many in society, but this is amajor problem.
(12:22):
So today, senator Mark Kelly,senator Todd Young,
representative John Garamendiand Representative Trent Kelly,
and I think that theintroduction probably had to
change because even though thiswas the Kelly Waltz bill with
Waltz being tapped for nationalsecurity advisor, that's
probably perhaps why they had tochange the those who introduced
this.
But it says introduce theshipbuilding and harbor
(12:44):
infrastructure for up forprosperity and security ships
for America Act and HarborInfrastructure for Prosperity
and Security Ships for AmericaAct.
It says comprehensivelegislation to revitalize the US
shipbuilding and commercialmaritime industries After
decades of neglect.
The United States has aweakened shipbuilding capacity
and declining commercialshipping fleet that is dwarfed
by China and a diminishedability to supply the US
military during wartime.
(13:05):
I mean that kind ofencapsulates it right?
I mean it certainly is weakenedship building capacity, decline
in commercial shipping fleetand diminished ability to supply
the US military during wartime.
It continues on the historicbipartisan proposal would
restore American leadershipacross the oceans by
establishing national oversightand consistent funding for US
(13:27):
maritime policy.
Incentivizing domesticshipbuilding, enabling US flag
vessels to better compete ininternational commerce,
rebuilding the US shipyardindustrial base and expanding
the mariner and shipyardworkforce those are some of the
most major topics in maritimethat the US can undertake.
Certainly, national oversightand consistent funding.
I think what they're showinghere is that no-transcript.
(14:15):
That's what most people aregoing to be talking about that
domestic shipbuilding and the USflagging, trying to get more
presence in internationalcommerce there.
Rebuilding the US shipyardindustrial base, shipbuilding
and everything included in USflagging is going to be kind of
the story here.
But expanding the mariner andshipyard workforce the workforce
(14:36):
is also important.
Continuing on with thisannouncement we've always been a
maritime nation, but the truthis we've lost ground to China,
who now dominates internationalshipping and can build merchant
and military ships much morequickly than we can, as a quote
(14:56):
in this announcement saidSenator Kelly, a US Navy veteran
and the first US MerchantMarine Academy graduate to serve
in Congress.
It continues on his quote tosay the Ships for America Act is
the answer to this challenge bysupporting shipbuilding,
shipping and workforcedevelopment.
It will strengthen supplychains, reduce our reliance on
foreign vessels, put Americansto work in good-paying jobs,
jobs and support the Navy andCoast Guard shipbuilding needs.
I'm excited to introduce thiscomprehensive, fully paid for
legislation today, alongside myRepublican and Democrat
(15:17):
colleagues and our partnersrepresenting all parts of the
industry, and together we'regoing to work together to get
this effort across the finishline.
So that was all the finishquote there.
This is important.
I think that this is longoverdue, but such a great
inertia movement for themaritime industry and for it to
be paid for, so I'm not going togo into all of that.
But basically they've been aspart of this proposal.
(15:40):
Have tax incentives and ways ofkind of moving things around.
A trust fund for maritime inhere, so maritime security trust
fund, so it would reinvest.
It says well, let me just getto the background.
The announcement has a bulletpointed section that kind of
goes top level of what'shappening here.
So the Ships for America Act.
I'm just going to call it theShips Act.
(16:01):
That's what I've been callingit.
The Ships Act.
Kelly Waltz Bill is what itused to be.
Now it's going to be called theSHIPS Act so coordinate US
maritime policy by establishingthe position of maritime
security advisor within theWhite House, who would lead an
interagency maritime securityboard tasked with making whole
of government strategicdecisions for how to implement a
national maritime strategy.
That has been something thathas been attempted multiple
(16:24):
iterations and never quitegotten there A national maritime
strategy, something that candirect and move forward so that
we have a roadmap for where wewant to go and be as a maritime
nation.
We've fallen away from that,and so having a maritime advisor
, a maritime security advisorand a maritime security board at
the White House that will helpcreate and make a whole of
(16:48):
government strategic decisionsfor national maritime strategy,
it's a really important thing.
The bill also establishes amaritime security trust fund
that would reinvest duties andfees paid by the maritime
industry into maritime securityprograms and infrastructure
supporting maritime commerce.
That's that first bullet in thisoverview.
What this is also saying to me.
Did you hear how many timessecurity was, as I said,
(17:14):
maritime security is nationalsecurity, and so the importance
and the need for this rises tothe level of all other national
security initiatives that wehave.
The second bullet hereestablish a national goal of
expanding the US flaginternational fleet by 250 ships
in 10 years.
That is an aggressive number.
250 ships in 10 years meansstill 10 years, but 250 ships.
(17:38):
To expand the US flaginternational fleet by creating
the Strategic Commercial FleetProgram, which would facilitate
the development of a fleet ofcommercially operated US flagged
American crude and domesticallybuilt merchant vessels that can
operate competitively ininternational commerce.
Great More US flag vessels,which also means more jobs for
(17:58):
US mariners.
If we're going to up mariners,because we have a severe
shortage in mariners, we needjobs for them and US flag
vessels is a great way to dothat.
The next bullet enhance thecompetitiveness of US flag
vessels in internationalcommerce by establishing a
rulemaking committee oncommercial maritime regulations
and standards to cut through theUS Coast Guard's bureaucracy
(18:19):
and red tape that limits theinternational competitiveness of
US flag vessels.
Requiring the government-fundedcargo move aboard US flag
vessels and requiring a portionof commercial goods imported
from China to move aboard USflag vessels starting in 2029.
A little jab to the Coast Guardthere, but this is interesting,
right?
I think that this will.
They're trying to create alongstanding relationship with
(18:42):
the government and maritime butalso that incentive, right.
So government funding cargomoving aboard US flag vessels
that's pretty common, orcertainly that's a at least in
part existing rule part existingrule, but this requiring a
portion of commercial goodsimported from China to move
aboard US flag vessels.
That's interesting.
I think there's some tax breaksthat are associated with that
(19:04):
in the bill the bill justdropped yesterday, so I'm still
kind of sorting through all ofit.
But they're trying to not justdirect people to change things
right, they don't want to justdirect the market to move, but
they're trying to findincentivization ways of doing
that.
All right, continuing on Expandthe US shipyard industrial base
for both military and commercialocean-going vessels by
(19:25):
establishing a 25% investmenttax credit and here's where they
start talking about some ofthese tax credits by
establishing a 25% investmenttax credit for shipyard
investments.
Transforming the Title XIFederal Ship Financing Program
Title XI Ship Financing is kindof already there, but
transforming it into a revolvingfund, it says and establishing
a shipbuilding financialincentives program to support
(19:47):
innovative approaches todomestic ship building and ship
repair.
Continuing on with the bulletsaccelerate US leadership in next
generation ship designmanufacturing process and ship
energy systems by establishingthe US leadership in next
generation ship designmanufacturing process and ship
energy systems, by establishingthe US Center for Maritime
Innovation, cool right R&D formaritime, which would create
regional hubs across the country.
So we're looking at a whole ofthe US movement toward let's
(20:13):
regain our presence as amaritime nation and let's be
good at it.
Let's have cool tech or perhapsnot cool tech, but cool designs
next generation ship design,right, like let's be smart about
how we do this and let's becutting edge front instead of
just old dusty, right.
So that's my feeling here isthat we're moving toward let's
(20:35):
be good at this, we're going todo it, let's do it, but let's
also be good at it.
The final bullet here makehistoric investments in maritime
workforce by establishing amaritime and shipbuilding
recruiting campaign, allowingmariners to retain their
credentials through a newlyestablished Merchant Marine
Career Retention Program,investing in long overdue
infrastructure needs for the USMerchant Marine Academy and
supporting state maritimeacademies and centers for
(20:57):
excellence for domestic maritimeworkforce training and
education.
The bill also makes longoverdue changes to streamline
and modernize the US Coast Guardmerchant marine credentialing
system.
Look, there's a lot in here andeverybody obviously is going to
be talking about the push forincreased shipbuilding and
maritime security elements, butthere's a few other things that
(21:17):
I do want to point out.
I think they're kind ofcaptured but they certainly,
like I said, the shipbuildingand maritime security elements.
But there's a few other thingsthat I do want to point out.
I think they're kind ofcaptured but they certainly,
like I said, the shipbuildingand maritime security are going
to be the top levelconversations that people are
going to have.
But there's a workforcedevelopment sector section here
and there's some greatincentives in there for mariners
.
And actually I'd like to saythat this parallels some of the
Maritime Transportation SystemNational Advisory Committee, so
the MITSNAC, the FederalAdvisory Committee, to
(21:38):
Department of Transportationthrough MARAD.
It's the Federal AdvisoryCommittee, it's the equivalent,
basically, of the NationalShipper Advisory Committee that
we often talk about at the FMC.
This is over at DOT MARAD.
Mitsnac has had some parallelrecommendations here, and so I
love to see some of these greatideas right, and they're
happening kind of acrossdifferent conversations and I
(22:01):
love to see that some of themmade their way in here.
So, like I said, workforcedevelopment, there is a section
that suggests that, look, publicstudent loan forgiveness, if
we're going to have the programthen and it's pretty expansive
it should have merchant marinersin it, right, I mean it goes
there's Peace Corps.
There's all different kind ofqualifications of government
(22:22):
service under this publicstudent loan forgiveness or
public service.
The Merchant Mariners shouldcertainly be part of that and so
I'm happy to see that publicstudent loan forgiveness is
included in here.
To say Merchant Mariners shouldbe part of that.
They also have a section in thisbill on non-competitive
eligibility for federalemployment.
It says this section allowsindividuals who one, have
(22:44):
graduated from the US MerchantMaritime Academy and met all
their cadet commitment agreementrequirements and two, are
credentialed US merchantmariners with an officer or
rating endorsement who've servedat least seven years at sea, to
be eligible for non-competitivefederal employment.
So this is similar, it says, tohiring preference afforded to
(23:04):
veterans or Peace Corpsvolunteers.
So there's a veteran'spreference for seeking federal
employment.
This is going to say look, ifyou were a merchant mariner,
you're going to get a similarhiring preference if you kind of
hit all these marks.
But great, right.
I mean it's a service and itshould be treated as such.
(23:26):
For those who are merchantmariners, who are in this
service, they should have thesepreferences afforded to them.
Military to mariner we've talkedabout this.
So military to mariner helpsuse some of the qualifications
and sea time that militarymembers have to help translate
that into a Mariner program, aMariner credential.
(23:46):
So this says MilitaryCandidates to Mariner Careers
Recruitment Exchange.
This section requires theDepartment of Defense to
encourage military recruiters torecommend careers in the
maritime industry to recruitswho don't necessarily qualify
for US military service but whowish to serve at sea or work in
a shipyard of the United States.
It requires the DOD toestablish a mechanism to
introduce these recruits to themaritime administration.
(24:08):
We're then required to providethese recruits with appropriate
maritime industry careerresources and handoffs.
It's trying to find another wayin for those who maybe have sea
time or want to serve at sea todo it, and so and I love to see
it right Having moreencouragement into merchant
(24:29):
mariners and merchant marinesand maritime careers is great.
It also has a 10-year campusmodernization plan for Merchant
Marine Academies and alsothey're saying in this proposal
to elevate the US MerchantMarine Academy to be equally
considered to the other fourmilitary service academies.
Again, this is a service.
This is a service to thecountry, so I'd love to see that
(24:55):
that's included.
Like I said, there's lots oftax credits here for
maritime-related activities andexpenditures.
Love to see that that'sincluded.
Like I said, there's lots oftax credits here for maritime
related activities andexpenditures Great to see.
There's also a section thatpulls the conversation closer to
the White House.
I talked about this a littlebit, but it creates that
maritime security advisor and amaritime security board excuse
(25:15):
me will coordinate nationalmaritime affairs and policy,
including maintaining andupdating this national maritime
strategy.
Like I said, we've been tryingto do this for years.
Here it is.
It's starting to move forward.
The bill establishes the officeof the maritime security advisor
in the executive office of thepresident.
The maritime security advisoris authorized to appoint such
officers and employees as themaritime security advisor may
(25:36):
deem necessary.
This section also establishes aMaritime Security Board which
is based within the White House.
So you have the advisor andthen you also have this board,
led by the Maritime SecurityAdvisor and consists of
representatives from all federalagencies with responsibilities
for the maritime industry.
So they're saying look, we wantto pull in reps from all these
federal agencies dealing withmaritime.
(25:57):
The board, which has voting andnon-voting members, shall be
responsible for the coordinationof all efforts related to this
national maritime strategy andgenerally marine transportation
system of the United States,including establishing target
numbers for the size of themaritime security fleets.
Conducting independentoversight of cargo preference
requirements.
Coordinating national effortsto develop a robust maritime
(26:19):
workforce Of course we have todo that, we have to develop a
robust maritime workforce.
Establishing nationalpriorities for research and
development of next-gentechnologies in the shipping and
maritime industries I thinkthat's so cool, that's great.
Coordinating interagencyefforts to privilege US vessels
operating in internationalcommerce while maintaining US
(26:39):
international obligations.
So this is trying to figure outa way, well, to help boost up
US vessels right operating ininternational commerce.
Protecting vessels of theUnited States from physical or
cyber threats so how do we makethem more secure and conducting
oversight of the MaritimeSecurity Trust Fund.
So all great things right.
(27:01):
That's all the prerogatives,basically, of the Maritime
Security Board led by thatMaritime Security Advisor.
I mentioned the MaritimeTransportation System National
Advisory Committee, the SMITSNAC.
This is actually now shiftingSMITSNAC a bit and this is
interesting because now, like Isaid, it's an advisory board
made up of industry experts.
It currently reports to theSecretary of Transportation at
(27:24):
the US Department ofTransportation.
This is moving it over toreport to the Maritime Security
Board.
So this is private industrythat makes up this federal
advisory committee is now sayinglook, let's make that federal
advisory committee advising theMaritime Security Board from
kind of letting these federalemployees or these federal
(27:45):
members on this MaritimeSecurity Board, let's let them
know what's happening in theindustry from a private, you
know experts of the industrygroup.
And they also say that thisMITSNAC should then make
technical updates to how membersare appointed to serve on the
committee.
But, yeah, this is big news,moving the Midsnack over from
DOT, if this gets adopted, tothis Maritime Security Board
(28:06):
that would be at the White House.
I'd like to mention the FMC wasnot forgotten here.
I always love to see it whenthe FMC is not forgotten on a
national stage.
On a national stage, they sayin this proposal that the FMC
should report on vessels of theUnited States, requiring the FMC
to submit an annual report tothe Maritime Security Board,
this White House group andappropriate congressional
(28:28):
committees, evaluating thecompetitiveness of US vessels in
foreign commerce, which theboard will then use to inform
the National Maritime Strategy.
So this is a lot of really goodkind of, from all different
angles, maritime movement, and Ithink that this is really
comprehensive.
I think that they hit some ofthe major topics that have been
(28:48):
lagging and forgotten.
It feels like and yes, like Isaid, this is certainly a
shipbuilding bill, but itexpands to focus on maritime for
the United States as a wholeand how we return to be a
compelling and a importantmaritime nation.
So that's it.
Like I said, I wanted this tobe fairly quick.
(29:10):
I guess we're just under a halfhour here.
So that's it for this week.
I'm going to continue to watcheverything that's happening over
the holiday season, but takesome time for your family, take
some time for the holidays.
Happy holidays, merry Christmas, happy New Year to everybody.
And we're going to be rightback here the second week of
January, five days before apotential port strike.
(29:31):
We'll see if we have anagreement before that.
But, as always, the GuidanceService General for Educational
Purposes.
It should not be consideredlegal advice directly related to
your matter.
If you need an attorney,contact an attorney, but if you
have specific legal questions,feel free to reach out to my
legal company, squall Strategies.
Otherwise, for the non-legalquestions, the e-learning and
general industry information andinsights, come find me at the
Maritime Professor.
If you like these videos, let meknow, comment, like and share.
(29:53):
If you want to listen to theseepisodes on demand or if you
missed any previous episodes.
Check out the podcast by Landonby Sea.
If you prefer to see the video,they live on my YouTube page by
Landon by Sea, presented by theMaritime Professor.
While you're at it, check outour website,
maritimeprofessorcom.
So until about January 10th Ithink it is yep, january 10th,
friday.
This is Lauren Began, theMaritime Professor, and you've
(30:14):
just listened to by Land and bySea.
See you next time.
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