DOT selects Brownsville-Port Manatee for national program

The Port of Brownsville’s “short-sea” shipping route with Port Manatee, Fla., has been designated part of the America’s Marine Highway Program, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Transportation aimed at transferring a portion of U.S. cargo from overcrowded highways to waterborne vessels and America’s underused waterways.

The fledgling container-on-barge shipping operation the Port of Brownsville operates with Port Manatee, Fla., was chosen by the DOT’s Maritime Administration for inclusion in the four-month-old Marine Highway program. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made the announcement Wednesday morning.

“Making better use of our rivers and coastal routes offers an intelligent way to relieve some of the biggest challenges we face in transportation — congestion on our roads, climate change, fossil fuel energy use and soaring road maintenance costs,” LaHood said in a prepared statement. “There is no better time for us to improve the use of our rivers and coasts for transportation.”

Brownsville and Manatee port officials have dubbed the cross-gulf shipping line “M-10,” an alternative to I-10, and plan to add more frequent service when funds are available. M-10 and the seven other projects included in the Marine Highway program are eligible to compete for future funding under the program, including $7 million in initial funding that’s available now. The Maritime Administration has also committed to helping identify potential freight and passenger markets.

Manuel Ortiz, public information officer for the Port of Brownsville, says the Marine Highway designation will help lead to more job creation, while shipping cargo by sea is cleaner in terms of green house gas emissions.