Ports And Waterways

The future safety of maritime transportation in the United States-a major factor in the nation's international trade and economic well-being-will depend heavily on the quality of port and waterways information systems. Many U.S. ports and waterways lack adequate information services, although certain elements of advanced systems are now available in some locations. Barriers to improvements in information systems include the division of responsibilities for waterways management among multiple agencies at all levels of government, a lack of coordination among the federal agencies responsible for waterways management, inadequate budgets for some critical maritime programs, the high costs of some specialized technologies, stakeholder opposition to user fees, limited access to certain key data, the incompatibility of many independently developed systems, and the absence of standards for some attractive technologies. In this report, the second phase of a three-year study by the Committee on Maritime Advanced Information Systems of the National Research Council, a strategy is presented for overcoming the major barriers and deficiencies and providing a minimum level of maritime safety information nationwide. In this phase of the study, the committee concentrated on maritime information systems that promote safety, which is the area of greatest need. The committee did not examine in detail the relationship between navigation safety and maritime transportation efficiency or evaluate information systems that promote efficiency; the committee believes, however, that these issues deserve further attention.

The United States is a maritime nation. From its origin as 13 former colonies to its place as the preeminent world power today, our Nation's success has been dependent on our coastal ports and inland waterways to conduct trade. Recognizing the importance of transportation to trade, the Nation had made a strong intergenerational commitment to develop its transportation networks. These networks of highways, railways and inland waterways connect the interior of our country to our ports, which connect us to the rest of the world. These transportation networks have contributed to our success by providing a cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable means to transport large quantities of cargo over long distances and across oceans, keeping this Nation competitive in world trade. This book provides an analysis of the broad challenges and opportunities presented by the increasing deployment of post-Panamax vessels and outlines options on how Congress could address the port and inland waterway infrastructure modernization issues needed to accommodate those vessels.

Inland & Maritime Waterways & Ports: Design, Construction, and Operation covers the proceedings of the technical sessions in the 25th Permanent International Association of Navigation Congress, held in Scotland. This book is organized into two sections encompassing 10 chapters. The first section deals first with means for the protection of banks and bottom waterways against the attack by currents and waves, including those generated by ships. These topics are followed by discussions on methods of increasing waterways capacity and safety; sedimentation reduction and improving and maintaining navigable depths in alluvial channels; integration of ocean-coastal-inland navigation; and improvements of maritime ports and inland terminals. The second section starts with discussions of the developments in the construction of ships, navigational aids, waterways and harbors, traffic management and installations, with particular emphasis on risk analysis and safety criteria regarding transportation, unloading, and storage of liquefied natural and petroleum gases. Other topics covered in this section include economic optimization of the whole dredging cycle; cargo handling systems and equipment; design and construction of port facilities and arrangement of quay platforms; and coastal erosion caused by harbor works and corrective measures. This book will prove useful to design and navigation engineers and researchers.