On Friday, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced it would make more than $10.8 million available in grant funding for the America’s Marine Highway Program (AMHP).
AMHP’s purpose is to encourage the use of America’s 25,000 miles of navigable waterways as an efficient, sustainable and cost-effective transportation system that will alleviate road congestion, reduce carbon dioxide, and support job creation in nearby communities.
“The America’s Marine Highway Program increases the use of environmentally sustainable practices to move freight across our transportation system,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. “These investments help local communities reduce congestion and create more economic opportunities.”
AMHP has designated 45 marine highway projects since its inception. Twenty-one of those projects are currently operational. Marine highways are all-water routes, often running alongside or near major highways. AMHP helps to fund alternatives to traditional shipping by incorporating coastal and inland waterways into the transportation routes. Shipping via water is essential to reducing greenhouse gas emissions because it requires less energy and releases fewer emissions.
By creating new Marine Highway “container on barge” services on commercially navigable waterways, AMHP will create American jobs in ports, in shipyards, on vessels, and in the communities surrounding the Marine Highways.
For example, the DOT said that the Port of Virginia’s 64 Express Service had moved more than 221,000 cargo containers that would otherwise have been moved by trucks.
The route connects Hampton Roads and Richmond, Virginia via the James River and has saved approximately $5.9 million in road maintenance and supported 1,100 direct and indirect jobs. Through previous MARAD grants, the Virginia Port Authority used $4 million in grants to leverage $436 million in private investment into an economically distressed area near the Virginia Port Authority’s Richmond Marine Terminal.
“The America’s Marine Highway Program provides essential funding to support the expanded movement of freight by water, while also supporting port communities on our coasts and inland waterways,” said Acting Maritime Administrator Lucinda Lessley. “By investing in these services, we are able to bolster local communities and generate American jobs.”
Applications for the grants are due by 5 p.m. on June 4, 2021. More information is available in the Federal Register or by contacting Fred Jones, Office of Ports and Waterways Planning, at Fred.Jones@dot.gov.