REMARKS AS PREPARED BY

MARITIME ADMINISTRATOR REAR ADM. (RET) ANN PHILLIPS

AT WISTA

Thank you, Christina [Liviakis Gianopulos], for that warm introduction! 
 
On behalf of the Maritime Administration—and the Department of Transportation—I am honored to join you, and I congratulate WISTA on your 25th anniversary!!   

Thank you for everything you have done to open the doors of opportunity over the past two-and-a-half decades—and thank you for everything that you continue to do! 

MARAD’s MISSION 

MARAD’s mission is to foster, promote, and develop the maritime industry of the United States to meet the Nation’s economic and security needs.   

For those of you not familiar with the agency, we combine many different programs and areas of responsibility.   

MARAD administers the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, and we provide support to the six state maritime academies around the nation, including providing each a training vessel. KP graduates the most new licensed Mariners every year!  

We own and maintain the Ready Reserve FLEET , which is a fleet of nearly 50 cargo vessels kept on a reduced operating status to be ready when tasked by the U.S. military.  We also administer programs that provide support to commercially operated sealift vessels through the Maritime Security Program, the Tanker Security Program, and the Cable Ship Security Program. 

And we invest in ports through our Port Infrastructure Development Program and our U.S. Marine Highway program—and both programs received significant infusions of funding from the President’s Bi-partisan Infrastructure Law. 

Our team at MARAD—which is smaller than you might think—is meeting many historic moments in our nation’s maritime history! 830 people, 1/3 DOT  1/3 USMMA, 1/3 Fleet Support Sites and Gateway directors!! 

EMBARC 

I know that a particular focus for you today is discussing the regulatory “seascape”—so let me discuss some of the significant changes in the seascape made in  the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). 

First and foremost, because of the NDAA, commercially operated vessels must comply with standards set by MARAD regarding the prevention of, and response to, sexual assault and harassment before they can train USMMA cadets.    

Further, the NDAA also mandates that certain carriers must include their sexual assault and harassment prevention and response policies in their vessels’ Safety Management Systems.   

These are huge steps that advance the effort to help ensure that the  maritime industry workplace is one where essential values of mutual respect and dignity are firmly upheld, and where all workers have an equal chance to excel on the basis of their competency and professionalism.   

Let me discuss how we arrived here.  As you know, in the fall of 2021, we paused the Merchant Marine Academy’s  Sea Year training aboard commercial vessels.  that Midshipmen undertake to earn the sea time they need to qualify for third-mate and third-engineer licenses.   

We did this so we could strengthen both the measures we require of the vessel operators carrying cadets, and our own institutional policies, procedures, and training instructions to improve safety and support a culture of respect—and to help prevent and ensure appropriate responses to sexual assault and sexual harassment. 

In December 2021, we rolled out the Every Mariner Builds a Respectful Culture or “EMBARC” program.  This program enumerates approximately 30 policies and procedures intended to help prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment, to support survivors, and to support a culture of accountability. (USCG Act too) 

Specifically, EMBARC addresses such issues as controlling access to master keys on a vessel, ensuring that there are working locks on cadets’ stateroom doors, and ensuring that cadets have a contact at carriers’ corporate offices to discuss any issues of concern on the vessels on which they are training. 

In addition, the Academy also issued new policies/procedures to improve safety during Sea Year.   

For example, we began giving a satellite phone to every cadet before they go to sea. They can use the phone  to call USMMA, family, or friends.  We also expanded the amnesty policy to ensure that students can report sexual harassment/assault without facing discipline for collateral misconduct, such as drinking. 

Through our own agency policies, we mandated that commercial carriers had to enroll in EMBARC before we would resume Sea Year training on a carrier’s vessels. 

Now, however, thanks to the work of Congress, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023 mandates BY LAW that commercial carriers comply with EMBARC before they can train cadets. 

Developing a final rule on EMBARC is a very high priority for MARAD. 

I can also report that today, every carrier receiving a federal subsidy has enrolled in EMBARC.  In fact, we have all 16 carriers and operators enrolled. 

GROWING OUR MARINER POOL 

Let me now pan out and talk more broadly about MARAD’s work helping recruit and train the next generation of mariners. 

[Yesterday, I had the opportunity to discuss these critical issues during testimony before the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee.] 

As I testified, a study prepared by the Maritime Workforce Working Group and released by MARAD in 2017 found that the U.S. did not have enough mariners with unlimited tonnage credentials to sustain a full activation of the RRF and our commercially operated vessels to meet sealift needs.    

Specifically, the report estimated we were, at that time, about 1,800 mariners short of the number needed to support a full activation of commercial and organic ships.  However, this optimistic scenario assumed that all qualified mariners would be both available and willing to sail as needed.   

During the six years since the 2017 study was released, globally standardized credentialing requirements have had an impact on the U.S. Merchant Marine.  And of course, the maritime industry—like many other industries—has also been profoundly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.   

Mariner credentials are issued by the Coast Guard, but Coast Guard information technology systems are not currently structured to provide granular details regarding the pool of sealift qualified U.S. mariners.  That said, ascertaining the true size of the U.S. mariner pool that could be activated in an emergency would require knowing not only the number of U.S. mariners with valid unlimited tonnage credentials but the number from among that pool who would be available and willing to serve, particularly in a contested environment.   

In September 2022, I convened a forum attended by more than 75 industry stakeholders to discuss mariner workforce challenges.  Among many issues, we discussed the fact that providing better work/life balance to today’s merchant mariners—comparable to the quality of work life in other sectors of the economy—is essential.   

We also discussed how critical it is to growing our mariner workforce and to recruiting and retaining the next generation of mariners to ensure that all mariners are treated with respect and dignity and are guaranteed safe workplaces.  Every mariner must have the opportunity to succeed and advance on the basis of their skills and professionalism—and we must ensure that our U.S. Merchant Marine reflects the values and diversity of the nation it serves.  

In addition to administering the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, MARAD is providing extensive assistance to the six state maritime academies.  And we are building the new National Security Multi-mission Vessels that will provide state-of-the-art training platforms for students at the state maritime academies. (Philly Shipyard) 

We are also operating the Centers of Excellence Program.  The FY 2018 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the Secretary of Transportation to designate Centers of Excellence for Domestic Maritime Workforce Training and Education.   

Twenty-seven facilities were designated as Centers of Excellence in May 2021.  Designees included accredited community colleges, technical colleges, a shipyard apprenticeship program, and maritime training centers under State supervision.  The Centers of Excellence help provide outreach to diverse communities around the Nation and expand awareness of the maritime industry, including the U.S. Merchant Marine. 

MARAD is also continuing to work with many stakeholders across the industry to discuss the great ideas that are percolating on strengthening recruitment and retention in the industry. 

Finally, I would say, it is also important to frame this issue properly.  Requirements for sealift qualified mariners are a function of the size of the U.S.-flagged fleet, which also determines the number and type of job opportunities available to mariners.   

Full activation of the sealift fleet would involve our U.S.-flagged commercially operated fleet sailing internationally, larger oceangoing Jones Act vessels requiring mariners with unlimited tonnage credentials, vessels operated by the Military Sealift Command, and the nearly 50 vessels comprising MARAD’s RRF.  All of these vessels draw crewmembers from the same constrained pool of sealift qualified mariners. 

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, MARAD is growing the U.S.-flagged fleet and creating new job opportunities for American mariners with unlimited tonnage credentials, including the Tanker Security Program and the Cable Ship Security Program.   

In 2021, MARAD stood up the Cable Security Fleet Program, which brought two cable laying vessels under the U.S. flag.   

In December 2022, MARAD issued the updated Voluntary Tanker Agreement and an Interim Final Rule to create the new TSP.  The application period closed on February 17, 2023, and we have three tankers in the program now, and anticipate announcing the next seven ships selected for enrollment in the near term.    The TSP initiative will create new employment opportunities for approximately 500 U.S. mariners.   

Further, to help attract additional vessels to our flag, in 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration proposed that Congress eliminate the 3-year period that vessels entering the U.S. flag must currently wait before they are eligible to carry civilian agency preference cargoes.  Although implementation of this proposal would have no cost to the government, it was not adopted. 

CONCLUSION 

All of what I shared with your just now is only a portion of what my team and I are working on in both the legislative and regulatory fronts.  And while it sounds like a lot—because it is—I want to share with all of you that I show up to work every day excited and energized about the opportunities I have to help move this industry forward!  I am excited because I know that MARAD’s work, combined with that of other federal agencies and our industry partners—largely represented right here in this room, will ultimately enhance not only your experiences as current members of the maritime industry—but importantly this work, OUR WORK, will enhance and improve the experiences of future generations of mariners!  

I look forward to seeing where this work takes all of us.  I thank you for your leadership in this industry, and I thank you again for the opportunity to join you today. 

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