Transforming the Marine Transportation System: A Vision for Research and Development

The Committee on the Marine Transportation System, in cooperation with the Transportation Research Board, hosted a conference on research and development for the Marine Transportation System June 29 through July 1, 2010.  The conference was held at the Beckman Center of the National Academies in Irvine California and was a big success.  Many of the issues discussed are pertinent to Harbor Safety Committees and members of the maritime community.

You can view the conference agenda as well as all the presentations given at the following website: Research and Development Conference

To view the presentation, simply click on the topic in the agenda (underlined) and the appropriate file will open.  The presentations are excellent and well worth your time to peruse. While you're exploring the agenda from the R&D Conference, now is the time to start thinking of ideas for next year's HSC/AMSC conference.  If you have any ideas, please feel free to post them to this blog as comments to this blog.

DOWNTOWN HOUSTON SELECTED AS PRIMARY CANDIDATE FOR 2011 HARBOR SAFETY MARITIME SECURITY CONFERENCE

On Tuesday August 3rd the Harbor Safety / Maritime Security (HSMS) Conference planning committee agreed to select historic Downtown Houston as the primary site for the 2011 conference. The date ranges are still being finalized but early May and early June are contenders. The next step will be for the Transportation Research Board to develop and release a request for proposals from potential venues. There are several hotels in the area which may be interested in hosting the conference.  We won't have a final date and venue to report until all responses to the RFP are in, evaluated and a contract signed.

Here is some information on the area from the Houston Downtown Management District:

“Downtown Houston is booming thanks to an unprecedented amount of public and private investment-- developers have spent more than $4 billion in the last decade to transform downtown into a vital city center.


Downtown Houston is home to dramatic 20th Century skyscrapers housing the offices where many of downtown’s 140,000 workers are employed, a world-class Theater District, a growing residential population, a popular nightlife scene centered in the Historic District, new light rail, an enhanced convention center and numerous new hotels. It also boasts two state-of-the-art sports facilities that attract millions throughout the year.


The Houston Downtown Management District has facilitated many of the public and private projects that have transformed downtown over the last decade. The District began its revitalization efforts in 1995. To accelerate the renewal of the city's urban core, the District set several important goals with quality of life as the underlying theme: building a lasting constituency for downtown; recruiting investors, retailers and tenants while retaining those already downtown; and making downtown clean, safe and attractive.”

Downtown Houston will no doubt be an excellent location for next year’s conference. Please monitor this Blog closely for additional information. We’ll post it as quickly as it becomes available. In the mean time, you can learn more about Downtown Houston by visiting the area’s website (please note that the Coast Guard does not endorse this website nor any specific business highlighted): http://www.downtownhouston.org/

We look forward to seeing you in Downtown Houston next spring.

NY & NJ HARBOR OPERATIONS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE: TOOL OF THE GOVERNMENT

Guest post by Mr. John F. Tavolaro, the Deputy Chief of the Operations Division at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New York District.

NY - NJ HARBOR OPERATIONS AND SAFETY COMMITTEE: TOOL OF THE GOVERNMENT

Now that I have your attention, let me describe how my agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, leverages the NY and NJ Harbor Operations and Safety Committee (Harbor Ops) in our Regulatory Permit Program. First some background on both.

In the Port of NY and NJ we have a very active and vibrant Harbor Ops Committee, which is a direct reflection of the active and vibrant Harbor community. Harbor Ops casts a wide net and is inclusive of anyone who cares to participate and express an opinion. It has a Steering Committee, made up of some of the key Port players such as the US Coast Guard, Harbor Pilot organizations, NOAA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and others. This group vets subjects of interest and creates the agenda for the second group the Harbor Operations Full Committee, which is made up of the broader public, such as terminal operators, tug companies and others. The Full Committee is briefed on harbor issues related to safety and operations and provides feedback.

One of the many programs that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages is the Regulatory Program. Anyone who proposes to perform dredging, construction, filling or dumping of dredged material in waters of the U.S. or ocean waters needs to obtain a permit from the Corps, pursuant to several federal laws. Part of this permit process is a public interest review, involving soliciting public comments by way of public notices and/or public meetings or hearings. In a highly populated and busy Port such as ours, there are many competing interests that all want access to the water – commercial, recreational, residential and industrial. Sometimes proposals are made that might create unsafe conditions if they were built as planned because of a lack of understanding on how competing interests already use the waterway. We have found that before a permit proposal goes out for public comment it is very useful to vet it with the Harbor Ops committees to obtain insight on the navigational safety of the proposal and how it might be modified or amended in order to be made safer.

Here’s how it works. An applicant comes in to us with a proposal, usually as a pre-application submittal (most permit applicants know it is better to come talk to us before submitting a formal application so that the time clock for a decision isn’t running - it makes it easier to engage in a constructive dialogue and change the proposal if necessary). We will review it and give them comments, including the comment that they must obtain comments and suggestions on the proposal from Harbor Ops, if we believe the proposal will be something that Harbor Ops is interested in. The applicant will then set up time on the agenda for the Steering Committee and brief them. The Steering Committee will provide constructive comments directly to the applicant, and if appropriate, put the proposal on the agenda for the Full Committee for comment. Usually, the applicant will modify their proposal to account for the comments received from the Harbor Ops committees before submitting their formal application. The beauty of this is that one important part of our public interest review for the permit application, navigational safety and minimizing interference with other legitimate uses of the waters, is pretty much taken care of before we even get the formal application. Working through the Harbor Ops structure is a quicker and fairly painless way of obtaining these comments. If we were to issue a public notice and receive individual comments from many of these same players, it would be far more time consuming, frustrating and tedious for all involved. I think leveraging the Harbor Ops committees in this manner better serves the public and directly engages all the necessary players in an efficient and transparent manner – it’s good government.

John F. Tavolaro
Deputy Chief, Operations Division
US Army Corps of Engineers New York District

Houston in 2011?

Members of the Southeast Texas Waterway Advisory Committee (SETWAC) and Houston-Galvaston Navigation Safety Advisory Committee's (HOGANSAC) bid to host the 2011 National HSC/AMSC conference was resoundingly supported during the HSC Chair's meeting during the 2010 conference in Jersey City. We applaud SETWAC and HOGANSAC for stepping up to this challenge!


There is a lot of work ahead for both committees to make next year's conference a success, and there is not much time to get it done. They are actively seeking volunteers to be part of the Planning and Hosting Committee. The initial planning meeting will be in Houston on Wednesday, June 30th.


At the meeting they will discuss the location, venue for the evening event, sponsors and exhibitors. What we know so far is that the conference will be held somewhere in the Houston area. The date may be moved up a bit, instead of the usual dates in May or June. Because date selection is always a challenge, nothing is finalized yet and the planning committee will have to work closely with Coast Guard Headquarters to ensure a suitable date is picked.


It will take several sponsors, exhibitors, and volunteers to make this conference a great success. We hope that you will be able to attend and participate in making 2011 the best Harbor Safety Conference yet. If you would like to participate in the planning process please send an email to LCDR Ellis Moose at ellis.h.moose@uscg.mil. We can refer you to the proper contacts in Texas. You can also monitor this blog where we'll keep you up to date on the status of the conference. Once planning conference calls start, we'll keep you informed of the dates and times of those as well.

Take the Conference Survey

The 2010 Conference Evaluation Survey is now available. Comments, feedback, and suggestions from 2010 Conference attendees regarding the content, quality, and structure of the program are encouraged and will help ensure that future programs meet the expectations of participants. Please respond as soon as possible to the 15 evaluation questions (Questions 1-9 are on the first page and Questions 10-15 are on the second page). You must respond to Questions 1-3 before proceeding to page 2 and finally submitting your responses.

Link to the 2010 Conference Evaluation Survey

Your responses really do help us keep fine tuning these events so please take the time to fill out the survey.

Watch the HSC/AMSC Conference Videos

The Transportation Research Board arranged for each session of this year's National Harbor Safety/Area Maritime Security Conference to be professionally recorded. Those e-sessions are now available for viewing. The below link will take you to website where you can find the e-sessions:
http://www.bethereglobal.com/content/449_trb_harbor_safety/

Please note, this link takes you to a non-Coast Guard website. The Coast Guard does not necessarily agree with or endorse any of the comments made at the conference.

In order to view the e-sessions, simply scroll through the agenda and click on the presentation you'd like to see. You will be taken to a video presentation.  We hope you enjoy the opportunity to review the conference or, if you couldn't attend this year, here is your chance to see what you missed.

We'd like to send out a huge Thank You to the TRB staff that supported this year's conference.

Thank you for Attending the National HSC/AMSC Conference!

Last week we all enjoyed the hospitality of the New York/New Jersey Harbor Ops and AMSC at the National HSC/AMSC Conference. For those of you who attended, we will be sending out a survey shortly to see how we did. This was our first attempt at combining safety and security into one conference and general feedback has been initially positive. We understand we still have some kinks to work out, and we'd love to hear your thoughts. We look forward to hearing from you!