REMARKS AS PREPARED BY

MARITIME ADMINISTRATOR REAR ADM. (RET) ANN PHILLIPS

AT American Great Lakes Ports Association (AGLPA) Dinner

Washington, DC

INTRODUCTION 

Thank you to Steve [Fisher, President, AGLPA] and all of the Great Lakes ports for inviting me to join you today.  On behalf of the Biden-Harris Administration, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, I am very pleased to be here. 

As we begin, I want to take a few moments to talk about some of the many MARAD initiatives underway on the Great Lakes.  I’ll quickly touch on our grant programs—and then on the META program.  And then I look forward to hearing from each of you! 

PIDP 

Thanks to the historic $1.2 trillion investment made available by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are making once-in-a-generation investments in ports all around this nation.  

The Maritime Administration is administering $2.25 billion in funding provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law through our Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP). 

The Notice of Funding Opportunity for this year’s round of PIDP grants is open now and applications are due on April 28. 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is providing $450 million in funding for this year’s grants.  And thanks to additional appropriations, there is a total of $662 million in total funding available. 

This funding will help us improve the movement of goods to, through, and around ports—and it will help us cut emissions near ports by boosting electrification and investing in other low-carbon technologies to reduce environmental impacts on neighboring communities. 

Great Lakes ports have been highly competitive in the PIDP program. In fact, 14 Great Lakes ports have received approximately $155 million in grant funding over the life of the program.  For example,  

the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority received over $27 million to modernize a warehouse; expand stormwater collection; and install electric infrastructure; 

Brown County, where Green Bay is located, received $10 million for the redevelopment of a former power plant site into a new port terminal;  

the Duluth Seaway Port Authority received $10.5 million to fund a rail‐served warehouse and rehabilitate failing wharf walls;  

the Port of Monroe was awarded $11 million to replace the surface of the existing wharf, and construct a second riverfront wharf to be used exclusively for vessel transfer of wind energy cargos; and 

the Port of Detroit was awarded $16 million for rail access and port capacity improvements. 

We are so excited about these projects and about the infrastructure they will build on the Great Lakes. 

MARINE HIGHWAY PROGRAM 

In addition to the funding we are administering to support port infrastructure improvements, we’re also dedicating new resources to benefit domestic shipping through the United States Marine Highway Program, which provides funding to Marine Highways, including navigable rivers, coastal waterways, and our Great Lakes, among others.  

In March of last year, the Department of Transportation announced the award of nearly $39.8 million in grant funding for the Marine Highway Program. This included a one-time infusion of $25 million provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  

Three Great Lakes ports have been awarded funding for Marine Highway projects totaling $5.2 million. 

For example, the Port of Oswego was awarded grant funds for the purchase of a reach stacker for loading and unloading containers.  

Of note, the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) made significant changes to the Marine Highway Program to allow expanded eligibility for projects including the movement of bulk materials.  

An additional $10 million was made available for the program under the FY 2023 appropriations measure.  The Notice of Funding Opportunity was published last week on March 1 and applications will be due on April 28. 

Put simply, President Biden is leading the largest-ever federal investment in modernizing our country’s ports—and our domestic coastwise services—and improving both our supply chains and the lives of Americans who depend on them.  This is truly an extraordinary moment. 

SMALL SHIPYARD GRANTS 

MARAD administers one other grant program that I would like to discuss and that’s the Small Shipyard Grants program. 

The Great Lakes have a long history of shipbuilding—and in 2022, there were three (3) Great Lakes Shipyards that received Small Shipyard Grants.  They are:  

Moran Iron Works, Inc. in Michigan; 

Great Lakes Towing Company in Ohio; and  

Fincantieri Marine Group. 

This funding enables small shipyards to make improvements—including purchasing equipment—that make their operations more efficient and competitive and improve the quality of their construction and repair work.  

In fact, the first Great Lakes bulk carrier to be built on the Great Lakes in more than 35 years, the M/V Mark W. Barker, was built at a yard that benefited from a Small Shipyard Grant!  Interlake also used their Capital Construction Fund account to set aside tax deferred funds to construct the Barker, significantly lowering its construction costs! 

META PROGRAM 

Finally, as I close, I want to note one other area of work in which we are engaged in the Great Lakes. 

As you know, among the many environmental challenges facing the U.S. maritime industry, decarbonization has been a key objective of the Biden-Harris Administration.   

MARAD specifically addresses decarbonization in addition to other environmental issues through the Maritime Environmental and Technical Assistance (META) Program.  META works to facilitate research, demonstrate what works, and promote the development of emerging technologies to support a safe and efficient U.S. maritime industry.   

Through the META program, MARAD is currently supporting a study exploring low carbon options for shipping on the Great Lakes. The study will assess the suitability of alternative fuels and power options for Great Lakes shipping. Study results should be available by the end of September. 

As part of this decarbonization movement, the United States and Canada have launched an initiative to establish a “green shipping corridor” for the Great Lakes—St. Lawrence Seaway System. Under the Initiative, the USDOT, the U.S. Department of State, and Transport Canada will work with state, local communities, tribal leaders, and the private sector to facilitate the establishment of a Great Lakes Green Shipping Corridor Network. 

Outside of decarbonization, the META program has had a longstanding partnership with the EPA and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to verify and validate ballast water management technologies and methodologies to help address invasive species transmission in the Great Lakes region. 

These are great initiatives, and we look forward to the next steps. 

CLOSING 

That concludes my formal remarks.  Let me just reiterate how pleased I am to be here today—and I look forward to talking with each of you about your ports and the trends you’re seeing on the Lakes.  

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