Page 34: of Marine News Magazine (June 2005)

33 35

34 • MarineNews • June, 2005

Circle 200 on Reader Service Card

Circle 267 on Reader Service Card

Marine Towing of Tampa

Tampa, FL

AVIK

WHAT DO THESE NEW TUGS HAVE IN COMMON?

Foss Maritime

Seattle, WA

MARSHALL FOSS

Washington Marine Group

Vancouver, BC

Crowley Marine Services

Seattle, WA

M

A

R

I T I

M

E “INNOVATIVE FENDERING SOLUTIONS”

Two Manufacturing

Facilities www.schuylerrubber.com 16901 Wood-Red Road

Woodinville, WA 98072

Phone 800-426-3917

Fax (425) 488-2424 204 Ida Road

Broussard, LA 70518

Local Phone (337) 248-1426

Toll Free 866-347-9445

Fax (337) 837-3610

Western Towboat

Seattle, WA

Providence Steamboat Co.

Providence, RI

Hawaiian Tug & Barge

Honolulu, HI

Crowley Maritime

Oakland, CA

Alcan Gove

Northern Territory, Australia

BARU

SEASPAN VENTURE

SEASPAN TEMPEST

OCEAN TITAN

RAINBOW

MIKIOI COASTAL RELIANCEINDEPENDENT

By RADM Robert Duncan, USCG,

Captain Ron Branch, USCG, Chris Doane and

Joe DiRenzo III

Since 9-11 all facets of the media have combined to focus national policy mak- ers, in and out of government, along with the general public on the asymmetric ter- rorist threat facing the United States and its global trading partners. Lengthy news- paper articles or Op-ed pieces, documen- taries on television such as The Learning

Channel and the Discovery Channel, along with talk radio banter have spot- lighted multiple areas of concern. These have included airplanes, tanker trucks, critical infrastructure and the country's bustling seaports such as New York and

Los Angles. The maritime nexus in partic- ular has received a lot of attention as over 90 percent of the nation's commerce trav- els by water. "Experts" have looked at ferry security, security around nuclear power plants and ways that the general public can get involved in the national effort. Commentaries on how vessels could be used as weapons, or the latest on container security have migrated from the maritime trade publications to the nation- al media. The vast majority of this cover- age on maritime security has been devot- ed to the coastal ports and terrorist attacks that originate from outside the U.S., but very little has been written about the nation's efforts to secure the Western

Rivers, the lifeline of America's heartland.

This article provides a synopsis of the multi-agency effort that secures our inland rivers.

As the Lead Federal Agency (LFA) for

Maritime Homeland Security, the Coast

Guard has coordinated a multi-faceted effort using Federal, state and local agen- cies as well as private industry to secure the U.S. maritime domain. The service has adopted an overarching security goal

America's Western River:

A Unique Security Challenge

Each year more than 100,000 barges navigate the

Houston ship channel. Here, a crane barge maneuvers near other barges on the Houston ship channel. (USCG photo by PA2 James Dillard)

SECURITYTHE YEARBOOK

JUNEMN2005 5(33-40).qxd 5/26/2005 10:46 AM Page 34