SCHUBERT PRAISES EUROPEANS FOR USE OF SHORT-SEA FREIGHT TRANSPORT

SCHUBERT PRAISES EUROPEANS FOR USE OF SHORT-SEA FREIGHT TRANSPORT    U.S. Maritime Administrator William G. Schubert praised European shippers for their increasing use of short-sea freight transportation.
   “Like here in Europe, our land modes of transportation are nearing capacity,” Schubert told shippers at the International Management Development Institute Meeting in Copenhagen on April 23. “I’ve been impressed by what you are doing here on the continent, and I hope to have similar success back home.”
   MarAd is studying ways to put more cargo on coastal and inland vessels.
   “In our major port cities, commuters really do not want to get caught in traffic when one or two of the jumbo containerships are in port — the line of trucks hauling boxes in and out of the port can create massive delays approaching gridlock,” Schubert said.
   “We want shippers and commuters to start taking advantage of the ‘free road’ — the rivers, bays, and oceans that surround our country,” he said.