Position Papers

Position Papers

Uniform Regulation of Ballast Water
Jones Act and Other U.S. Maritime Cabotage Laws
Efficient Funding for the Second Poe-Sized Lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Keep Commerce Moving on the Great Lakes During the Winter Months – Protect the Supply Chain
Full Federal Funding for State Maritime Academies
Short Sea Shipping
Great Lakes Shipbuilding and Government Programs to Promote the Industry
Full Funding for Dredging Great Lakes Deep-Draft Ports and Waterways

Full Funding for Dredging Great Lakes Deep-Draft Ports and Waterways

Goal:

Ensure that the Great Lakes navigation system is adequately funded for dredging through the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF).

Background:

There are 60 federally-maintained deep-draft ports on the Great Lakes and their connecting waterways that create the single maritime transportation system that is the foundation of U.S. manufacturing, infrastructure, and energy production and opens the U.S. Great Lakes ports to the world.

However, decades of inadequate funding for dredging the Great Lakes have left more than 13 million cubic yards of sediment clogging ports and waterways.  Sediment on the bottom means cargoes are left at the dock when vessels can not load to the design depths of the system.  This can be as much as 270 tons of iron ore on a U.S.-flag vessel for each inch lost when channels are not adequately dredged.  The foreign-flag vessels frequenting the Lakes can forfeit 116 tons for each inch of draft lost.

The federal government taxes maritime cargo and the receipts are deposited in the HMTF.  The HMTF collects more revenue from shippers than Congress has appropriated to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to maintain our harbors.  $10 billion in already collected revenue sits idle in the U.S. Treasury, not being used for its intended purpose of investing in our Nation’s ports and harbors.

With increased costs associated with placement of dredged material and tight competition due to shrinking environmental windows, it is vital that federal funding keep pace for the U.S. Army Corps so Great Lakes waterways remain efficiently and safely passable.

Economic Benefit:

Annually about 160 million tons of cargo, valued at $26.1 billion, moves on the Great Lakes in commercial ships.  The U.S.-flag Great Lakes fleet moves 80 to 90 million of those tons each year mostly between U.S. ports.

A 2022 study titled, “Economic Impacts of Maritime Shipping in the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Region” determined that waterborne commerce on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway generated more than 241,000 jobs paying $17.8 billion in personal income, $6.3 billion in federal and state taxes and $36 billion in economic activity.  

Action:

GLMTF supports continued distributions from the HMTF to draw down the $10 billion surplus and allocations of at least 13 percent of the total distribution must go to the Great Lakes Navigation System.  Maintaining navigation structures and dredging federal navigation channels will ensure the 4th Sea Coast remains a viable marine transportation system.