Treasury Secretary tells maritime labor board of economic upturn

Treasury Secretary tells maritime labor board of economic upturn    U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow told the AFL-CIO’s maritime trades department executive board Friday the U.S. economy “is beginning to turn around.'
   World leaders “are amazed at how we recovered from the perfect storm of … recession, the stock market meltdown, terrorist attacks, and corporate scandals,” Snow told the board in Hollywood, Fla.
   In the first phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom, “more than 5,000 U.S. merchant mariners served aboard U.S.-flag ships, and more than 1,200 merchant mariners crewed the government’s Ready Reserve Force ships,” Snow said. “In fact, 84 percent of the cargo moved to support the war effort — that’s about 17 million square feet of cargo — was carried on U.S.-flag vessels.”
   Snow also said the Bush administration is “looking forward to working with you to implement the new international maritime transportation security treaty that will come into effect this summer … as well as some new domestic regulations that are being implemented now to protect our ports, vessels, and maritime communities.”