Transport and Trade 



The Ocean Transportation System 



To determine where research and development may have greatest payoff, 

 it is helpful to consider United States foreign trade cargo movement as a sys- 

 tem of components including physical facilities, manpower, energy, institu- 

 tional arrangements and policy. 



The complete transport system includes five links, of which the three mid- 

 dle ones make up the ocean transport system : 



— U.S. land carriers — and domestic water carriers — serving U.S. ports; 

 — U.S. ports with their cargo-handling equipment, storage facilities, 



piers, and channels; 

 — the ocean carriers, U.S. and foreign flag, is scheduled "liner" services 



and in specialized and "tramp" services; 

 — the foreign ports ; 



— connecting transportation networks abroad. 

 The characteristics of the components making up the ocean transportation 

 system are substantially influenced by a number of supporting activities, 

 including : 



— shipbuilding; 



— weather and mapping services; 

 — navigational aids and nautical charting; 

 — channel dredging; 

 — -search and rescue ; 

 — foreign freight forwarding ; 

 — flow and control of cargo containers. 

 The ocean transportation system, as it serves U.S. foreign trade, is affected 

 by a number of institutional controls or other influences, including notably: 

 — Federal Maritime Commission regulations; 

 — labor agreements and practices ; 

 — customs regulations and operations ; 



— rate tariffs and rules of conferences (carrier associations) ; 

 — rules of the road and other navigational controls; 

 — other safety-at-sea provisions; 

 — pollution abatement regulations ; 

 The ocean transport system, its technical components, and their operation 

 and control are linked and influenced by a framework of such Federal 

 actions as : 



- — subsidies to support construction in U.S. shipyards of vessels for 

 operation under U.S. flag on essential foreign trade routes, in- 

 tended to make the capital cost of vessels to the U.S. operators 

 roughly equal to those of foreign flag carriers building abroad; 

 — subsidies to U.S. flag carriers contracting to operate on sp>ecified 

 foreign trade routes, intended to equalize certain major operating 



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