The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on May 6, cut $20 million from the MSP.
West Coast Sailors
The USNS Sisler is one of eight Watson-Class LMSRs awarded to SUP-contracted Pariot Contract Service by the Military Sealift Command.
President Obama signed a five-year authorization legislation known as the farm bill that keeps Food for Peace Title II largely intact.
President Obama signed an omnibus appropriations bill, on January 17, that covers the balance of fiscal year 2014 and includes full funding for the MS), as well as funding for other programs crucial to the U.S. maritime industry.
Chip Jaenichen, the acting head of the Maritime Administration (MarAd), told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation that if he is made the permanent Maritime Administrator he intends to focus on identifying ways to revitalize the U.S. Merchant Marine.
Matson Navigation Company announced on November 6, it has signed a contract to have Aker Philadelphia Shipyard build two new 3,600-TEU containerships.
Legislation signed on October 17, by President Obama to reopen and fund the federal government through January 15, 2014, included full funding for the MSP. The next battle for the U.S.-flag maritime industry is preserving Food for Peace.
Testifying before the USCG and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, former Maritime Administrator William Schubert said, ?Perhaps nothing is more important to the viability of the privately owned U.S. flag commercial fleet than adequate cargo preference enforcement. MarAd must substantially improve its cargo preference efforts to prevent a significant decrease in the number of vessels under U.S. flag.?
New legislation announced that will significantly strengthen American ports, including many in the Pacific Northwest.
Among the Union's objectives is "to support a journal which shall voice the sentiments of the seafaring class, and through its columns seek to maintain the knowledge of and interest in maritime affairs." The first issue of the West Coast Sailors, in June of 1937, noted that "Common sense, fearlessly applied, brings success to a Union."