By Paul Scott Abbott, AJOT

From a persistent lack of understanding of the importance of maritime transportation to specific concerns such as those related to nationwide worker credentialing, US port officials continue to face an uphill battle.

At the American Association of Port Authorities' 61st annual Washington Spring Conference, held March 19-20, some 300 industry leaders were reminded that federal officials might not yet have a firm grasp on seaport-related issues.

John Anderson, Republican staff director of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told port officials that they must still overcome significant awareness challenges, both among federal policymakers and the public at large.

'Ports and waterways are out of sight and therefore out of mind,' said Anderson, a Capitol Hill staffer for eight years. 'Lots of members of Congress don't get it. They just don't get it.'

Noting that the perception problem extends throughout the populace, Anderson added, 'The general public doesn't get how all those tennis shoes get to Wal-Mart.'

At a time when ports are fighting for funding for infrastructure to handle burgeoning trade volumes, plus meet tough security mandates, functions such as the Spring Conference take on added significance. Senior port officials from throughout the nation followed two days of formal conference sessions with a day of meetings with legislators, legislative staff members and federal agency leaders.

The conference itself was highlighted by an address from US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff (see March 26 AJOT) and included much discussion on such key issues as the DHS rollout of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program.

During a discussion of the TWIC program, the top administrator for the Port of Houston, the nation's busiest foreign commerce port, said DHS has greatly underestimated the number of credentials that will have to be issued.

'You're off by a factor of 10,' H. Thomas Kornegay, executive director of the Port of Houston Authority, told officials of DHS and Lockheed Martin Corp., the firm contracted to implement TWIC.

Kornegay said DHS figures indicate that 34,000 TWIC cards will be needed for workers at the Port of Houston. However, Houston port authority officials believe the number of cards for their port alone will be 287,000 ' some 8 1/2 times the DHS figure for Houston and more than one-third of the total 750,000 TWIC cards DHS estimates will be needed nationwide.

If TWIC cards are needed for all contracted construction workers, the Houston figure will be even higher, Kornegay said, adding, 'I can see problem after problem after problem with construction inside the port.'

Cmdr. Peter W. Gautier, chief of the cargo and facilities division of the US Coast Guard, conceded that the initial number estimated for TWIC cards needed nationwide stands at 750,000, 'although it could be much, much larger.'

Stephen Sadler, director of maritime and surface credentialing for the Transportation Security Administration, which, like the Coast Guard, is a unit of DHS, said the 750,000 estimate was made prior to his joining TSA, 'but I'm going to have to live with it.'

Richard W. Hatton, deputy program manager for TWIC enrolment at Lockheed Martin Homeland Security & Energy Systems, said his firm and DHS must be prepared to make adjustments as TWIC is implemented.

Meanwhile, in a separate discussion of intermodal freight policies in the Western Hemisphere, Jeffrey N. Shane, Undersecretary for Policy for the US Department of Transportation, said he believes progress has been made on the awareness front.

Shane said he used to begin presentations by calling transportation 'the Rodney Dangerfield of public policy,' but he said he no longer feels compelled to do so as respect is finally coming. Events such as the 2002 West Coast port work stoppage have helped raise awareness, he said.

'Transportation is beginning to get some traction on the public policy agenda,' Shane said.