U.S. Maritime Administration Pursues National Maritime Strategy

On October 28, 2013, the U.S. Maritime Administration announced that it will formulate a national maritime strategy to be discussed at a symposium on January 14-16, 2014 in Washington, D.C. The deadline to submit agenda topics and ideas for discussion is November 29, 2014, the day after Thanksgiving. The agenda will be released to the public on December 17. Anyone seeking to attend or speak, must register between December 17 and January 3. At his confirmation hearing on November 21, Acting Maritime Administrator Paul N. Jaenichen indicated, among other things, that the country needs “a strategy that will result in a significantly higher portion of U.S. overseas trade being carried on U.S. flag vessels.”