Biden Appoints US Maritime Administrator With Zero Shipping Experience During Worst Shipping Crisis In Decades

excalibur · Oct 18, 2021

No one should be surprised though as Biden and his staff are all incompetent. It is almost as if all of this is deliberate. :think:

The FAA is headed by a pilot, NASA is headed by an astronaut, the US Marine Corps is headed by a Marine but for the fourth time in a row, and during the worst shipping crisis of the century, the US Department of Transportation, has appointed someone to the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) who is not a captain and has no commercial shipping experience.

Yesterday afternoon, President Biden announced his intention to nominate Rear Admiral Ann Phillips, US Navy (Retired), as the next US Maritime Administrator ...

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The position of US Maritime Administrator is traditionally held by a commercial shipowner or captain, but President Obama left the position unfilled for years then selected a former congressional staffer, David Matsuda. He was highly unpopular and was pushed out in 2013. Obama followed the appointment with a relatively low ranking navy submarine commander Chip Jaenichen.

The Trump administration appointed US Navy Rear Admiral Mark Buzby for the position. Buzby, while not a commercial mariner or ship owner, was a graduate of the US Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), ran sealift operations for the Navy, was on the board of directors of Carnival Cruise Line, and spent his first year traveling around the country, meeting with ship captains and commercial maritime stake holders. He reached out and listened to stakeholder needs. Buzby became highly popular within the industry on his promise to publish a new US Maritime Strategy to resuscitate the US Merchant Marine. He did write that strategy but it was lost in the malaize of government bureaucracy.

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Buzby’s final act as administrator was endorsing a licensed ship captain as his replacement but Buttigieg never called that nominee for an interview. Biden appointed no ship owners to his cabinet, he closed the White House maritime desk, and delayed his MARAD appointment for 278 days. The Biden administration seemigly cares so little about shipping they have even forgot to recall critical republican appointed delegates to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London.

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