MARITIME ADMINISTRATOR VOWS TO BUILD U.S.-FLAG FLEET

   Maritime Administrator Clyde Hart vowed to build the U.S.-flag fleet in a speech during the maiden voyage of a new U.S.-flag ship in Baltimore Tuesday.
   "It’s what I’m about," Hart said. "The U.S.-flag fleet is vitally
important to us. My job is to increase the number, and if its one by one,
then so be it."
   Hart spoke to industry and government officials during a celebration
marking the arrival of the roll-on/roll-off vessel Tanabata, at Baltimore’s
Dundalk Marine Terminal.
   The ship is operated by American Roll-on Roll-Off Carrier, a new
U.S.-flag line jointly owned by Wallenius Lines and Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA. The carriers recently merged to form the world’s largest ro/ro carrier operation.
   The Tanabata is the fourth ro/ro vessel in the carrier’s fleet, which
will primarily transport Defense Department vehicles and household goods, commercial vehicles and U.S. preference cargo between the United States and Europe.
   American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier’s fleet is manned by U.S. crews from the American Maritime Officers and Seafarers International Union. Three of the four ships are enrolled in the U.S. government’s Maritime Security Program (MSP).
   American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier says it has no plans to add more
U.S.-flag ships. "The future is dependent on U.S. maritime policy and the continuation of MSP," said Raymond P. Ebeling, president of
Wallenius-Wihelmsen Lines in North America. "If it continues, we would be delighted to bring on more (U.S.-flag) ships."