The Marine Transportation System's Economic Juggernaut: A Tonic for Pollution Prevention?1

Abstract

ABSTRACT In September 1999, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater delivered a report on the marine transportation system (MTS) to the U.S. Congress. It captured the growing alarm by MTS stakeholders that the current system of marine transportation was barely adequate now and certainly not capable of accommodating the predicted growth and changing nature of shipping over the next two decades. While the report's recommendations seemed to highlight the economic aspects of the MTS, solving impediments to economic efficiency also can translate into significant pollution prevention. Principal among potential pollution prevention is in the area of reducing the numbers of vessel collisions, allisions, and groundings—29 of which resulted in oil spills of 10,000 gallons or more between 1995–1999. These casualties impact the ability of a port to conduct business, resulting in accrual of demurrage and risking competitive position. Attacking the port-specific and systemic factors influencing human factor causes of collisions, allisions, and groundings, the U.S. Coast Guard has embarked on several risk-based decision tools that enable local MTS coordinating committees, called harbor safety committees (HSCs), to evaluate the greatest factors that can contribute to vessel casualties. The tools include a Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment (PWSA) and a tailored model to evaluate U.S. Army Corps of Engineers facility permits. Early results show opportunities to improve navigational risk in specific ports. Additionally, another MTS effort involves providing real-time navigational and environmental information to vessels to aid decision making.