Keep Brown Water Voices In The Conversation
This past week, the Corn Belt Ports and We Work the Waterways announced their participation in the Corn Belt Ports Rural Maritime and Logistics Training and Education Consortium, a partnership with a group of 11 colleges in the Illinois River and Upper Mississippi River area. A number of barge and river-related companies signed a letter of support.
The goal of spreading the word about maritime careers in general is one we have supported wholeheartedly for a long time. There are good jobs on the water and in shipyards that artificial intelligence (AI) cannot replace, and that offer a better future than ever to ambitious young people seeking an alternative path now that the country is focused on rebuilding its maritime sector.
But there’s another reason why initiatives like this are important.
The president’s proposed FY 2027 budget, unveiled in April, sends a strong signal to prioritize the U.S. shipbuilding industry, featuring a record $65.8 billion for Navy shipbuilding and a new $250 million initiative aimed at modernizing shipyard infrastructure. Congress may modify it, but support for the maritime revival is bipartisan.
The administration’s Maritime Action Plan, released in February, includes the directive, “In line with the goals of the Assistance for Small Shipyards grant program, establish a new grant program to fund projects that increase the capacity and efficiency of U.S. shipyards of all sizes in order to increase high-paying jobs in the maritime sector, advance technological innovation in shipbuilding and reduce reliance on foreign shipyards.”
Taken together, these two initiatives send a “demand signal” that maritime careers, and the institutions that support them, have sustainable futures that will extend past and through Congressional funding cycles for those young people willing to commit to them.
The MAP also calls for the designation of Maritime Prosperity Zones, and wants to “[e]nsure [that] MPZs are geographically diverse and include areas outside traditional coast shipbuilding and ship repair centers, including river regions, the Great Lakes, Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. territories in addition to the east and west coasts of the United States and the Gulf of America.”
The inland and intracoastal waterways must be included in the conversation about maritime revival. Partnerships like the Corn Belt Ports Rural Maritime and Logistics Training and Education Consortium strengthen those voices.
