[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6158]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE SHORT SEA SHIPPING PROMOTION ACT OF 2007

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, when I assumed the chairmanship of the 
Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation at the 
beginning of the 110th Congress, I promised that the subcommittee would 
balance oversight of the Coast Guard with our responsibility to 
strengthen maritime transportation.
  On February 15, the subcommittee began to fulfill that promise by 
holding a hearing on short sea shipping, which is the waterborne 
transportation of goods and people from one domestic port in the United 
States to another port in the United States or between Canada and the 
U.S.
  At the present time, trucks carry nearly 70 percent of the freight 
tonnage transported in the United States. By contrast, the most highly 
developed water freight transportation routes in the United States, 
those running on the Mississippi River, the Great Lakes and the Saint 
Lawrence Seaway carry just 13 percent of the freight tonnage within the 
United States.
  Mr. Speaker, the impact of our continued reliance on trucks to move 
freight will be measured in increased traffic congestion, increases in 
polluting emissions and increases in accidents between trucks and cars.
  However, the only way that we will shift freight transportation away 
from an increasing volume of trucks is by creating affordable reliable 
transportation alternatives. I believe that one of these alternatives 
must be short sea shipping.
  During our February hearing, our subcommittee heard compelling 
testimony arguing that one of the challenges currently limiting the 
growth of short sea shipping is a requirement that with only a few 
exceptions cargo transported by water to a port in the United States 
must pay the harbor maintenance tax. This tax, assessed at the rate of 
$125 per $100,000 of cargo value adds to the costs associated with 
waterborne transportation and is one factor currently making such 
transportation less competitive than trucks and other modes.
  Importantly, if the cargo originated in Europe and is off-loaded in 
New York, just to be reloaded on a ship bound for Jacksonville, Florida 
then the cargo owner must pay the harbor tax twice.

                              {time}  1500

  Further, the tax is paid, not by the ship owner, but by the shipper 
of the goods. So imagine that a FedEx truck wants to get on a ferry in 
Windsor, Canada, and be off loaded just across the river in Detroit, 
Michigan. Each of the owners of the 500 packages that are in the truck 
must pay the harbor maintenance tax. There is simply no easy way to 
collect the tax from so many different packages, so the truck travels 
to the United States across the bridge.
  In part, because it acts to limit the growth of short sea shipping, 
the harbor maintenance tax generates only about $2 million per year in 
revenue from short sea shipping voyages, but stands as a costly barrier 
to the expansion of short sea shipping options.
  Today, therefore, I have introduced the Short Sea Shipping Promotion 
Act of 2007, which would exempt goods moved by water from one port in 
the United States to another port in the United States or between the 
United States and Canada from the harbor maintenance tax.
  This exemption will not significantly reduce revenues into the harbor 
maintenance trust fund, which already has a significant fund balance, 
but could help open a significant new course for the movement of 
freight by water.
  Our Nation urgently needs to take practical steps to address the 
significant challenges we face in maintaining the flow of freight on 
which our economy depends.
  As chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation 
Subcommittee, the measure I have introduced today is just the first 
step of a concerted and deliberate effort I will undertake to support 
the potential of maritime transportation, in general, and short sea 
shipping, in particular, to be a reliable, cost-effective mode in our 
national transportation network.

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