Page 48: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2003)

U.S. Shipbuilding 2003: A Congested Attempt to Fund

By H. Clayton Cook, Jr.

Meeting national transportation needs during the current decade should involve a surfeit of new contracts for our domestic shipbuilders. The Oil

Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) man- dates double hulls for all vessels engaged in U.S. petroleum carriage. In our non-contiguous trades, renewal programs are needed for the replace- ment aging container and RoRo fleets.

Moving freight containers and trailers on RoRo barges and vessels, and mov- ing people on passenger and passenger- vehicle high speed ferries, provide the obvious solutions to traffic congestion in the population corridors served by at least two of our Interstate highways.

Some of these vessel needs are now immediate because of private sector decisions to postpone projects. For oth- ers, the immediacy is the result of

Washington policies which have reject- ed the maritime sector's importance in providing transportation to support our commerce in time of peace, and trans- portation to support our uniformed per- sonnel in time of war.

Last year I stated that while the nation's vessel needs were clear, the means for financing these needs remained uncertain. I assigned as the primary cause, the current

Administration's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) hostility to any form of maritime sector support. As I write this article today, this OMB hostility has in no respect lessened.

Over the past 12 months, OMB has blocked Congressional consideration of

Maritime Administration (MarAd) plans to employ its Title VI capital construc- tion fund (CCF) program in our

Coastwise services. ^ And, OMB has continued its efforts to entirely termi- nate MarAd's Title XI financing guaran- tees program, zeroing out Title XI authorizations in the Administration's llllllliarafill

North America

MULTI-CABLE / PIPE

TRANSIT SYSTEM

Approved By All Class Societies, USCG & US Navy • Save Time • Save Money • Save Headaches!

Sucessfully Tested To IMO Res. A. 754 (18) with CLX® Cable*

CSD Sealing Systems-North America 880 Candia Road

Manchester, NH 03109-5205

Tel: 603-641-3914

Fax: 603-641-2682

E-mail: [email protected] www.csdsealingsystems.com

CLX Is a registered trademark of the Okonlle Company. €ver wonder what's R€RllV in those tanks?

The levelCom TU system is taking offshore tank level indication to a new plateau...

Simply the most complete

Tank Level Indicating system available today.

Manufactured in the USA by:

The levelCom 100/101

Tank Level Indicating system that monitors depth, volume, weight

AND the specific gravity of virtually any liquid. And it does it without special sensors.

No sensor in the tank!

No expensive or fragile pressure transmitter or sensor in the tank.

No more need to empty and gas free a tank to repair or calibrate a tank level indicator!

Packed with features! • Equipped to communicate to a remote display or computer • Automatic sense line leak and plug detection • No custom scales required • Automatic self calibration • Programmable alarm and control setpoints • 10 point depth/volume/weight "Tank Table" accurately tracks the shape of the tank 4-20mA input and output options add to the versatility of the

LevelCom 100

TMS, Inc.

Phone: 1-503-285-8947

Fax: 1-503-285-1379 [email protected] 48

Circle 213 on Reader Service Card Circle 345 on Reader Service Card

Maritime Reporter & Engineering News