Maritime System Delivers Energy for America

Mark Green
Posted May 26, 2015

Thinking about American energy, one underappreciated component is our national maritime system – connecting sources of oil with U.S. destinations and also exported domestic resources that help make the U.S. an energy superpower. National Maritime Day last week reminds us of the vital link this system provides in the energy supply chain. Noteable:

• America’s marine highway system consists of more than 29,000 nautical miles of navigable waterways – the most extensive system in the world – infrastructure that’s vital to our economy.
• About 42 percent of all waterborne trade in the U.S. in 2012 was comprised of crude or petroleum products, reflecting the fact the U.S. imports about 10 million barrels of oil per day.
• In 2013, the U.S. maritime transportation system – harbors, ports, channels, locks, dams and waterways – delivered $1.75 trillion of the U.S.’s foreign trade.
• More than 20,000 tankers have loaded at Alaska’s Valdez Marine Terminal since 1977.
• Since 1970 there has been a 98 percent reduction in oil spilled from tankers worldwide.

There are a number of reasons for that safety record, many of them detailed in this information brochure and/or in the video below:

Safety, training and experience. These combine in the maritime system to ensure that the energy America needs get where it needs to go to power the economy as well as individual lives.