USA MARITIME TELLS CONGRESS:
AMERICA'S SECURITY AND TROOPS AT RISK
UNLESS THE MARITIME SECURITY IS FULLY FUNDED
Editor's Note 2/28/2016 Sealift remains a congressional and White
House non priority as it was in November of last year.
Editor's Note 10/30/ 2018 Still no chaange despite the change in Administrations and
Congressional balance.
A BOB HOPE CLASS SEA LIFT SHIP,OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTO
Information courtesy MM&P's WHEEL HOUSE
One of the most critical issues facing America’'s ability to provide assured
support to our troops overseas is the looming funding shortfall for the Maritime
Security Program (MSP) in Fiscal Year 2014 due to a $12 million carry-over
funding anomaly. Unless the $12 million anomaly is fixed and MSP is fully
funded, U.S.-flag ships will be forced out of MSP, which will weaken our
nation'’s commercial sea lift capability, send American maritime jobs overseas and
cost the taxpayer significantly more because the federal government will have to
step in to support American troops by providing commercial sealift capability
itself.
MSP, which is congressionally authorized at $186 million per year, provides the
Defense Department (DOD) with access to commercial assets--U.S.-flag vessels,
U.S. mariners and global logistics networks--to support U.S. government sealift
requirements. During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the vessels enrolled in MSP
carried 95 percent of DOD waterborne cargoes transported to the region. MSP
participant carriers continue to provide essential direct support to American
troops engaged in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Working with the
U.S. Transportation Command within the Department of Defense, the MSP carriers
have developed and implemented ocean and intermodal solutions via the Pakistan
Ground Lines of Communication, the Northern Distribution Network and sea-air
multimodal combination logistics.
Without assured access to the vessels, crews and related intermodal assets that
MSP provides, DOD would have had significant difficulty moving goods and
supplies to our troops and would have incurred substantially more cost. The
ability to access these commercial assets saves DOD a significant amount of
money each year. If the U.S. government were to try to replicate this program
through procuring and building such assets itself, it would cost $65 billion,
plus an additional $9 billion annually in operating and maintenance costs. In
other words, without access to the U.S.-flag vessels, American mariners and
intermodal and logistics networks provided by the commercial maritime industry,
DOD would have to acquire, operate, and maintain U.S. government assets and
intermodal systems at a significantly higher cost to the American taxpayer.
To prevent this loss in commercial sealift capability, the FY’14 carry-over
funding anomaly must be addressed. When Congress adopted its last Continuing
Resolution, there was a $12 million surplus in the MSP account that gave
Congress the opportunity to appropriate $174 million for FY’13 rather than the
authorized $186 million, which artificially set the funding baseline at $174
million rather than $186 million. With the $12 million in funds carried-over
into FY’13 plus the newly appropriated $174 million, Congress reaffirmed its
support for a fully funded MSP.
There are not, however, any surplus funds remaining in the MSP account to be
carried over and the funding baseline in the context of a continuing resolution
for FY’14 is set too low to achieve the full funding as called for by the
President and as intended by Congress. Consequently, to ensure that the
Department of Defense continues to have the U.S.-flag sea lift capability it
needs, Congress should correct this $12 million carry-over funding anomaly and
appropriate the full Congressionally authorized amount of $186 million for
FY’14. If it does not, and Congress fails to include the full $186 million for
the MSP but simply appropriates the same $174 million as in FY’13, the Maritime
Administration has indicated that an initial four U.S.-flag MSP vessels will be
removed from the program, sending American jobs overseas and reducing the
sealift capability available to the Department of Defense.
This potential funding shortfall is already raising readiness capability
concerns within DOD. Commenting specifically on the potential FY’14 funding
shortfall for the Maritime Security Program and the resultant loss of U.S.-flag
vessels and American mariners, the current commander of the U.S. Transportation
Command (USTRANSCOM), Gen. William Fraser, stated in a communication to members
of the House Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee that “USTRANSCOM relies
heavily on the significant capabilities the U.S.-flag commercial sealift
industry contributes to our nation.”
Fraser warned that the loss of vessels in MSP coupled with “the loss of mariner
jobs, access to the related intermodal logistics networks these companies
provide and potential loss of competition in certain trade routes may degrade
our current support to forces deployed overseas and likely increase
transportation costs to the government.”
In the interests of our nation’s economic and military security, and to prevent
the loss of militarily useful U.S.-flag commercial vessels and the outsourcing
of American maritime jobs, we ask Congress to address this carry-over funding
anomaly and to approve full funding for MSP at its congressionally authorized
level of $186 million for FY ‘14.
