# Presentation: 657035

## The Role of Marine Technology in the Global Economy

- VADM Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., USN (Ret.)
- Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
- NOAA Administrator
- World Maritime Technology Conference
- March 6, 2006

## Menu Slide

- Marine Commerce Economics
- A Growing Global Trade
- Tools and Technologies
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Role in Reopening the Gulf Coast following Hurricanes
- Importance of Marine Technology

- The Role of Marine Technology in Returning the Gulf Coast to the Global Economy

**Notes:**
 I would like to start with talking about the importance of Marine Technology in supporting global trade and how we all must work to making sure the necessary navigation products and services are in place to support the increased use of the intermodal transportation network.

We are continuously improving our ability to  providing accurate and timely navigation products and services to the our country’s maritime and intermodal transportation network.

We have a responsibility to both protect economic investment as well as protecting environmental integrity and peoples lives. So I would also like to talk about how we were recently tested in these responsibilities during and after the recent Hurricanes Rita and Katrina and worked to bring the region back into the Global Economy

## Economic Importance of Marine Commerce  

- $2 trillion dollars in U.S. waterborne foreign trade
- 2.5 billion tons of domestic and international commerce
- $32 billion dollars in gross output from U.S. water carriers
- 4.8 million direct and indirect jobs linked to U.S. ports
- $16 billion dollars in federal, state and local taxes
- More than** **90% of global trade** **is carried by sea

- The Role of Marine Technology in Returning the Gulf Coast to the Global Economy

**Notes:**
 Economic Importance of Marine Transportation Systems:
The Marine Transportation System was critical to the start of the United States as a nation and remains today the backbone of the country’s commerce
Our Nation’s ports support nearly $2 trillion dollars in U.S. waterborne foreign trade. (Source: American Association of Port Authorities)
Our Nation’s ports and waterways support the annual movement of more than 2.5 billion tons of domestic and international commerce. (Source – Maritime Administration)
Our Nation’s coastal and inland waterways support our commerce, our recreation, and our national security. 
U.S. water carriers annually generate a gross output of $32 billion, purchase $24 billion in goods and services from other industries, and employ more than 57,000 workers.
Public ports generate significant local and regional economic growth, directly creating jobs for more than 1 million Americans, and indirectly creating jobs for another 3.8 million. 
Waterborne commerce also generates more than $16 billion in federal, state, and local taxes. (Source: IMO)

## Increasing Use of Ocean

- Doubling of U.S. Trade by 2020
- Growing Trade = Increased Traffic and Larger Vessels
- Greater Importance of Marine Navigation Systems

- “Without International Shipping, half the world would freeze and the other half would starve.”
- -IMO

- The Role of Marine Technology in Returning the Gulf Coast to the Global Economy

**Notes:**
Growth of Trade
By the year 2020, foreign ocean-borne trade is expected to at least double and inland traffic movements are expected to increase by 30 percent.  
The need for newer, larger, and more efficient MTS facilities to accommodate larger, faster, and more numerous vessels is at an all-time high.
Vessels built today have deeper drafts that exceed the depths of many ports and harbor channels at lower tides.
The MTS is not currently being maintained adequately to face the current or future demands. (e.g., The Nation’s ports are operating at or near capacity/ infrequently surveyed channel depths are often inadequate for today’s modern container vessels; and many inland waterway locks have exceeded their 50-year design lives and are undersized for modern commercial barge tows.)
As waterway usage grows, the need for waterway traffic management and real-time marine navigation systems has never been greater.

## What are the technologies that provide the tools for  growing marine commerce?

** **

- 1’ of draft =
- $3M in autos
- $100K in coal

- The Role of Marine Technology in Returning the Gulf Coast to the Global Economy

## Technology and Tools

- Tide Gauge

- LiDAR Image of Moss Landing Harbor Channel

- Physical Oceanographic Real Time System

- Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

- Electronic Navigation Charts

- The Role of Marine Technology in Returning the Gulf Coast to the Global Economy

**Notes:**
An example of how observations are affecting management decision today, we only have to look to the Coastal Ocean Observation System, a future component of GEOSS.

NOAA is using new remote sensing technologies to map coastal topography in the U.S. These technologies include Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IfSAR or InSAR). 

These tools are a prime examples of how concepts like the Integrated Ocean Observing System and ultimately in the future GEOSS help predict and mitigate the impacts of weather on our beaches and wetlands.  These tools can help us streamline restoration projects so they are more successful and cost effective in the long run.

## Effects of Hurricane Katrina and Rita

- Shut-in 100% of oil production –(1.5M barrels/day)
- Shut-in  94% of gas production  (10B cubic feet/day)
- Mississippi Rivermouth closed
- Many goods frozen:
- Grain for Europe and Africa
- 70 % of U.S. coffee in flooded warehouse
- Bananas, Tires, Paint  sat on barges clogging riverways
- Gas Prices up 150%
- Trucking rerouted at a loss of $1M/daty
- Fisheries Closed
- Allianz, Europe’s largest insurer may pay out up to $550 billion

- The Role of Marine Technology in Returning the Gulf Coast to the Global Economy

**Notes:**
In addition to providing Hurricane Forecast Models and Warnings prior to the Hurricanes landing, NOAA also worked to assist in the disaster relief and facilitated the reopening of the area’s Marine Transportation System. 
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita recently put NOAA to the test in using all of our technological and human knowledge to reopen the Gulf Coast area for international commerce. 
With the Mississippi River mouth closed to international traffic, grain from the Midwest could not be shipped out to Africa and Europe.
Chiquita Bananas had to reroute shipment of bananas and other fresh produce to other areas.  25% of its imports went through Gulfport Mississippi.
Half of the Folger’s Brand of coffee comes out of New Orleans
The offshore oil and gas transportation infrastructure at Port Fourchon, including pipelines, processing facilities and tanker traffic were all shut in causing severe spikes in gasoline prices.
Just one Trucking Company, Yellow Roadway lost a million dollars a day with no shipments coming in or out of New Orleans. 

## NOAA’s Role in Reopening the Gulf Coast

- Navigation Response Teams
- Damage Assessment Flights & Aerial Photography
- Monitoring Water Levels with PORTS
- Monitoring Health of Seafood

- Navigational Response Teams

- The Role of Marine Technology in Returning the Gulf Coast to the Global Economy

**Notes:**
NOAA deployed its resources, including response teams, hydrographic survey vessels, and state-of-the-art technologies, as part of a large scale federally-coordinated response effort.

NOAA Navigation Response Teams directly contributed to relief efforts and the resumption of maritime commerce.

NOAA NRTs provided critical information, supporting Coast Guard efforts to rapidly assess and reopen waterways, which allowed maritime-based relief efforts into impacted communities. 

The field teams conduct hazardous obstructions surveys and mapping support through out the Atlantic Seaboard, Pacific Coast, Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. 
The field units operate in a 365 day a year environment to support NOAA's mission of promoting safe maritime navigation.   
The NRTs stand ready to respond to natural and manmade incidents in our waterways; their surveys enable authorities to reopen ports and channels to navigation after accidents and weather events.

NOAA conducted damage assessment flights, collecting over 8300 images, covering 1600 miles of linear flight lines. The images captured include the coastal areas of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, including the ports of Mobile, Pascagoula, Gulfport, New Orleans, and Port Fourchon.

Thirty-two tide stations operated by NOAA’s National Water Level Observation Network along the Gulf Coast disseminated storm tide conditions in real and near real-time as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita approached and made landfall. 

These stations were supplemented by thirty-one partner stations operated to NWLON standards, doubling the storm tide observing capacity in the Gulf, and demonstrating the value of an Integrated Ocean Observing System.

The Houston/Galveston PORTS® provided important navigational information following Rita required by ship masters and pilots to avoid collisions and groundings.

NOAA’s Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) were operating in the area affected by Katrina, and collected data to support remote sensing missions and other GPS applications such as surveying and mapping activities associated with the post-hurricane recovery work.

## NOAA’s Role in Reopening the Gulf Coast

- Hazardous Material Response
- Planning for Restoration
- Ecosystem Monitoring
- Water Quality
- Fishery Stocks

- The Role of Marine Technology in Returning the Gulf Coast to the Global Economy

**Notes:**
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, NOAA is continuing providing invaluable scientific support to the our Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency and the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in their response efforts. 

NOAA Restoration Teams are working with state and federal partners to assess the impacts to natural resources and to plan for restoration, within the context of the broader recovery efforts.

NOAA expertise is critical to mitigate harm, provide critical information for allocation of response assets, restore adverse effects on natural resources, aid planning and response decision-making, and document damages.

We continue to monitor the ecosystem in the area.  We are monitoring water quality and tissue samples from fish and bivalves.  In an area known for being a dead zone, where we thought that due to the massive pollution associated with hazardous spills, we were finding some good news.  We were able to open up the fisheries and that is another step in rebuilding the gulf coast economy. 

PHOTO Bottom Left: NCCOS Biologist is using a net tow to test for toxic phytoplankton (HAB).

PHOTO Bottom Right: Bert and Emily of NRT 4 at Port Allen

## Commerce Returning to the Gulf and to World Economy

- Fisheries

- Oil Industry

- Levees

- Hotels

- The Role of Marine Technology in Returning the Gulf Coast to the Global Economy

## Marine Technology Drives Global Economy 

- Marine Technology Drives Global Economy

- Bridges the gap between ocean users and industry
- The future of marine trade depends on global advancement in ocean observation systems
- We can see the future in trade but need to expand knowledge of both real time and forecasted ocean changes

- Air Gap Sensor, Port of Long Beach

- The Role of Marine Technology in Returning the Gulf Coast to the Global Economy

**Notes:**
Nowhere is the interconnections of our globe more evident than in marine commerce and transportations.  We are bridging the gap between economic development and those who use oceans to transport goods to the global economy.  

These are global concerns as we expand our economic integration and need to observe and connect systems to provide information from multiple data sources.

PICTURE – Air Gap Sensor, IOOS example of data collection and dissemination

## Questions?