Ships & Shipping

The Maritime Administration has a wide range of activities dealing with ships and shipping. We own and maintain a fleet of cargo ships, the Ready Reserve Force, which stands ready to provide surge sealift to the Department of Defense in the event of armed conflict or other emergency. Those ships are a component of the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) which serves as a reserve of ships for national defense and national emergencies. We manage the Maritime Security Program and the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement program, which leverage commercial ships and intermodal assets to provide sealift for the U.S. Armed Forces. The Marine Highway Initiative and the Ferry Initiative promote the greater use of America's waterways. Our Cargo Preference program provides the technical expertise so that most U.S. government-impelled cargo travels on U.S. registered ships. We provide technical expertise and loan guarantees for shipyards and shipbuilding. We provide assistance and expertise for shippers, and expertise in transportation financing and fair and reasonable rate determinations; we must approve the transfer of a commercial ship from U.S. to foreign registry if it is to take place; and we administer certain aspects of the Jones Act, the law that ensures vessels going from one U.S. port to another are of U.S. registry. We own and maintain the only nuclear-powered commercial cargo ship ever built in the United States, the NS Savannah, and we are the designated disposal agent for non-combatant Government vessels over 1500 tons.