Bill seeks to bolster Maritime Administration initiatives

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) recently introduced a bill he said is designed to support and strengthen programs essential to the Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) mission while maintaining maritime industry viability.

Wicker said the Maritime Administration (MARAD) Reauthorization Act would authorize funding for programs associated with the United States Merchant Marine while ensuring military sealift capacity for national security, improving port infrastructure, and promoting the use of marine transportation infrastructure.

“Our nation’s maritime assets expand commerce and protect our country,” Wicker, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this important legislation across the finish line.”

Wicker said the measure would also reauthorize the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, and the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act of 1998.

Other bill components include the authorization of a Community College Maritime Career Training Grants Program providing funding for community and technical colleges to develop, offer, or improve educational or career training programs for maritime workers along the nation’s coasts, the Great Lakes, Mississippi River System and other inland waterways; and increased funding for the Small Shipyard Grant program and full funding for the Title XI maritime guaranteed loan program to support the maritime industrial base.