January 15, 2021 By Jim Myers
Washington, D.C. Even as the House was moving to impeach President Donald Trump for a second time, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the incoming Senate majority leader, laid out a “bold” agenda that includes infrastructure investment.
Schumer told his fellow Democrats in a letter their work will not be delayed by the impeachment drama.
Schumer’s call for action on infrastructure tracks with President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign agenda that included transforming the nation’s crumbling transportation infrastructure.
Ports and inland waterways were specifically included in that vision along with roads, bridges, aviation and rail, the transportation closely identified with “Amtrak Joe.”
MARAD Administrator Mark Buzby Resigns
Maritime Activity Reports, Inc.
Mark Buzby (Photo: MARAD)
Mark Buzby, the Trump-appointed head of the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), has resigned following the violent intrusion of the U.S. Capitol by the President s supporters, the agency confirmed to
MarineLink.
“I no longer believe that I am able to serve as a member of the administration while remaining true to the values which have been the core of my service to the people of our nation,” said Buzby, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral.
Buzby s resignation took effect Monday, January 11. He served as Maritime Administrator since August 2017.
The term “confused seas” describes a highly disturbed sea surface with irregular and unpredictable wave travel. For governments, industry, and people, COVID-19, unprecedented since the 1918 influenza pandemic, is synonymous with navigating confusion. For mariner at-sea training, it presents a daunting challenge.
Modern training for licensed mariners benefits from simulators and classroom training at maritime academies, but hands-on at-sea training for a minimum of 360 days is irreplaceable. Just as no one would fly with a pilot who had never trained in the air and soloed, no ship operator would entrust a merchant vessel carrying passengers or cargoes to a third mate or third engineer not trained on board a ship at sea. It is unthinkable.