THE 21ST CENTURY COAST GUARD (continued)
Safe Gateways for a Maritime Nation
America’s waterways afford extensive access for commercial and recreational use; their multi-modal facilities link the Nation to global opportunity. Only a safe, efficient, and environmentally sound maritime transportation system will support economic productivity, provide security, and facilitate overseas trade. Yet, management of America’s waterways has been fragmented. The Coast Guard will spearhead a Department of Transportation effort to coordinate a national initiative that will invigorate America’s waterways. With this leadership, the United States will achieve a seamless maritime transportation system that will enhance prosperity and security into the next century.
Competing demands in America’s ports and waterways – commerce, national security, public health and safety, environmental concerns, recreation, fisheries, and more – must be balanced. Achieving balance in finite waterways will require a renaissance in coordinated private and government services. Congested channels present significant public-safety challenges. Burgeoning trade and coastal populations, coupled with bigger ships and the dangers posed by hazardous cargo movements, require upgrading the Nation’s waterways system and overhauling the present decentralized waterways management infrastructure. The Coast Guard will play a central role in ensuring these goals are met.
More than 95 percent of U.S. foreign trade tonnage, excluding that to Canada and Mexico, will continue to move by ship. Twenty-five percent of domestic goods will be shipped by water, and half the Nation’s oil will arrive by sea. U.S. global economic competitiveness and the safety and security of all Americans will depend on the effectiveness with which the Coast Guard manages the demands of growing seaborne trade. The U.S. goal is for a largely invisible maritime "enabler" for global economic life, where the user barely notices the carefully constructed and complex waterways infrastructure.
The United States will sustain the capability to carry out a full range of military operations worldwide. With fewer military bases located overseas, the Armed Services will rely on rapid deployment and transport of materiel. Mobility plans anticipate that more than 90 percent of the military equipment and supplies will move by sea in future contingencies. Ports and waterways will remain a vital component of military deployment and projection capability. The Coast Guard will ensure future waterways management decisions satisfy defense-mobility needs.
Leveraging emerging technology will be critical to ensuring a safe and efficient maritime transportation system and keeping American industry globally competitive. The answers to many of the Nation’s maritime safety challenges lie in developing and implementing computer-assisted vessel tracking, advanced navigation aids, remote pollution-monitoring, and other ship-safety and port efficiency systems that will enable America’s maritime transportation future. The Coast Guard will play a vital leadership role to foster national initiatives that focus on applying technology to waterway safety.
The Nation’s economic and military security are inescapably tied to the health of its ports and waterways. The Coast Guard will guarantee that America has safe and reliable gateways to the world.
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Created: August
1998