U.S. Department of Transportation
Contact: MARAD Public Affairs
Tel: 202-366-5807
July 30, 2019 5:11 p.m.
U.S. Department of Transportation Announces Nine Marine Highway Project Designations
“A new barge service will help the Port of Fernandina in Nassau County, the northernmost county on the Atlantic coast in Florida, service all coastal seaports on the Atlantic, including Charleston, SC, and contribute to the reduction of truck traffic on I-95.”
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) today announced the designation of nine Marine Highway Projects and a Marine Highway Route that will benefit Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington State and American Samoa. Marine highways are navigable waterways that can be used as alternate options to traditional shipping methods.
“The designation of marine highways by Congress will help move cargo and people to help grow the economy and shift freight off of congested highways,” said Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.
“Marine highways are an efficient and cost-effective option for moving freight and passengers in America,” said Maritime Administrator Mark H. Buzby.
The America’s Marine Highway Program (AMHP) authorizes the designation of Marine Highway Routes and Marine Highway Projects. A Marine Highway Project is a planned service, or expansion of an existing service, on a designated Marine Highway Route. Designation makes projects and highway routes eligible to apply for federal funding. Congress appropriated $7 million for AMHP in Fiscal Year 2019.
The new designations and route include:
Bridgeport to Port Jefferson Ferry Service: The Bridgeport to Port Jefferson ferry service currently removes over 440,000 passenger vehicles and nearly 9,000 trucks from the road annually and relieves landside congestion on Long Island, the bridge crossings and along the I-95 corridor in New York and Connecticut. The Ferry Service Expansion includes the development of a new state-of-the-art ferry terminal (Barnum Landing) for the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company in Bridgeport, CT.
Port of NY to CT Ports Trailer on Barge: By connecting Brooklyn, NY, Newark, NJ, Bridgeport, CT and other New England ports along the existing M-95 Marine Highway, this barge service is designed to reduce congestion in the NY/NJ port area and on the highways, bridges, and tunnels that connect to Interstate 95 into New England.
M-95 Fernandina Beach to Charleston Barge Service: A new barge service will help the Port of Fernandina in Nassau County, the northernmost county on the Atlantic coast in Florida, service all coastal seaports on the Atlantic, including Charleston, SC, and contribute to the reduction of truck traffic on I-95.
Port of Oswego Great Lakes Container Service: The designation will support the Port’s goal of expanding its reach into national containerized cargo movement, which should help to reduce on-road truck trips and ease congestion at two international border crossings (Buffalo and Detroit/Windsor).
Port of Morrow Barge Service Extension: The expansion of existing service will support the rural economy and increase the economic competiveness of the region by reducing transportation costs and rail and highway congestion through new opportunities for barge shipping to and from the Port along M-84.
Wallops Island M95 Intermodal Barge Service: The creation of a new barge service will expand short sea shipping near Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. This project will grow existing site capabilities at Wallops Island, enhance STEM research opportunities, and spur high-tech/high-paying jobs in a predominately rural area.
Seattle – Bainbridge Island Ferry Service: This service offers a faster, more reliable, and safer alternative to the circuitous road connections where freight and passenger vehicles would otherwise travel along Interstate 5 (I-5) and State Route (SR) 16, as well as SR 3 and SR 305.
Houston Gateway & Gulf Container-On-Barge Central Node: As proposed the project would reduce landside congestion through the creation of dedicated centralized Container on Barge facilities serving the M-69, M-146, and M-10 marine highways.
American Samoa Inter-Island Ferry Service: As a newly designated Marine Highway route and designated project, the Port of Pago Pago will enhance both intra-island and inter-island transportation to the outer islands, including the movement of freight, to ultimately promote the development and growth of these relatively isolated areas.
No comment, but a question. In what way will incorporated Fernandina Beach benefit from this (financially? Other?). And, what benefit will we as citizens receive?
“Decrease Truck Traffic on I-95″= Increased Truck traffic throw Amelia Island, and the City of Fernandina Beach. Double or Triple amount of Traffic to our port, and back. So where is this a Win for Nassau County or Fernandina Beach.???
Steven, that is the real conundrum isn’t it. What is best for the Port is probably not the best for the City and the major thoroughfares this material will go on due to the increased traffic. Not sure what the attraction would be for the Fernandina port over say the Jacksonville port as far as bulk container goods unless it is pure economics.
I would much rather see a barge from St Marys, GA to carry logs to our mills. Our roads need fewer trucks, not more.
I think we are approaching a time when the value of the port and the 2 mills to the local economy is increasingly questionable.
The mills are a convenient punching bag, but any thought of chasing them out of town seems wrong-headed on a number of levels. I tried to find the total employment by Rayonier and Westrock for this post. Couldn’t, but the combined number of 4,500 sticks in my mind from reading local media reports. So, multiply that by every level of job at these mills, from day-laborer, to supervisors, to middle management and executive and you get a payroll that is important in our local economy. Add ancillary providers including pine growers and truckers and it expands. 4.500 (plus ancillary employment) times the family households supported expands the number of our population supported.
The numbers are only one aspect. So, let’s say you wave that magic wand and there are no mills. What is expected of the 4,500+ employees and their families who depend on these mills for their livelihood? And how will they be absorbed into the remaining economy? I theorize that these jobs are somewhat specialized and not especially portable, unless we expect these families to relocate to another mill town. Which seems highly unreasonable and basically unfair especially since so many of these families are multi-generational natives of this island and county. Why should any of them pay the price because somebody who has moved to the island within the past 30 years would “prefer those mills weren’t here”. As it is said, that ain’t right.
And, if these hard working people get dumped from employment and can’t find other work here or elsewhere, what’s local government going to do to ameliorate that?
Finally, the mills and log trucks and all that is a big part of the Fernandina Beach personality. Just is.
Full disclosure. I moved here 2 ½ years ago, so that’s what my two cents is worth. But I’m also a multigenerational Floridian UF grad who grew up In Orlando before Disney. Ask me how that turned out.