Page 42: of Marine News Magazine (August 2011)

Workboats, offshore, inland, coastal, Great Lakes, brown water or shallow draft ? call it whatever you want ? your market is OURmarket, too. In this version of MarineNews  By The Numbers , we dispel the notion that the U.S. merchant fleet is on the decline. Actually, the commercial U.S. fleet in terms of numbers alone increased by 1,535 units, or 4 percent since 2004. Thats not all. The domestic mariner population continues to rise ? by almost 25,000 mariners or 13 PCT over the last decade ? primarily in the shallow draft, lower tonnage and specialty credentials. It should not be any secret to anyone on this side of the pond that the U.S.-flag so-called blue water fleet has been in decline for a long time. But, that doesnt mean that the U.S. merchant fleet, as a whole, is suffering from the same malaise. Table 1 shows the precipitous, steady decline of U.S-flag, blue water fleet in the years since 1943. Paralleling an era where the domestic blue water fleet has suffered dramatic losses, credentialed U.S. mariners have experienced a 13 PCT gain. How can that be? No ships, no mariners, right? Look closer ? the numbers do make sense, after all. Thats because unlimited tonnage/horsepower deck and engine licenses comprise just 11 percent of the total marine demographic. Conversely, the numbers of so-called lower tonnage? or limited? tickets continues to climb. It turns out that 99 percent of the U.S. flag fleet of nearly 40,000 vessels is comprised of Coastal & Waterways, Offshore Supply and Laker vessels. Thats your market. A vibrant one, as it turns out. Dont let anyone tell you that we have no boats and/or sealift capabilities, either. As depicted below, a vibrant domestic waterborne commerce industry still exists in this country. Thats your market ? ours, too. The backbone of our nascent shortsea shipping is our inland and coastal fleets. Tug & Barge numbers are up sharply, and the inland/coastal fleet continues to grow, as well. That said; note the decline in ferry vessels ? boats integral to reducing traffic snarls and getting trucks off the roads. Someone should tell the U.S. Department of Transportation. Tell Marad, too, while you are at it. We do have a merchant marine; you just need to know where to look for it. The pages of MarineNews are a good place to start. 42MNAugust 2011BY THE NUMBERSERAWW II 43Korea 51Viet Nam 6519741997200220062009 Total Ships6441268952578302257197196 Tankers260455279288145927558 U.S. Domestic Mariner Snapshot20012004200520062011 Total Population ? all mariners193,000204,835208,003209,800217,875 Domestic Ratings (MMC/MMD)73,00066,87067,63765,900123,742 Unlimited Ratings11,131Not avail.Not avail.27,50047,280 Licensed Mariners (total)85,00095,78999,023102,100145,292 Unlimited Deck Licenses8,7219,1789,1719,20011,524 Unlimited Eng. Licenses9,68010,50011,92511,50013,271 Source: United States Coast Guard National Maritime Center & Prior Research. TYPE OF VESSELPCT Change (*)Fleet Year2004200520062007200820092004-2009 (*) Ocean / Deep Draft~ 230Not avail.197197197196-14.8 Lakers 504948484848-4.0 Offshore/Supply (*)51853262965268968832.8 Inland/Coastal 37,20937,93638,07837,58937,21438,5533.6 ? Tugs5,3145,2905,2855,3565,4245,7357.9 ? Tank & Dry barges 31,26632,02732,18731,62931,21232,2143.0 ? Ferries 629619606604578604-4.0 Total 38,39239,15639,38738,90338,57839,929+ 4.0 PCT Source: Marad. (*) offshore/supply numbers may contain foreign registered (but U.S.-owned) vessels.