Port managers need to be in the face of all election candidates at all levels of the US Government, as it enters a new state of flux.

A poticial transportation hotcake that should be on every candidates radar is the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) programme. Unlike the worldwide supply chains that are highly responsive to events, the TWIC program is moving ahead at a snail’s pace. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has opened up numerous centres around the coasts where mariners and facility workers can register so that they are in compliance prior to the September 2008 deadline.

However, the DHS is already warning about potential delays, and has slowed down its card issuance in response to newly emerging technical problems. Dire predictions about disruptions at the docks, with workers unable to gain admittance, are being tossed around.

Meantime, the US Coast Guard (USCG), now part of the DHS, has come under additional fire. In the wake of its alleged poor handling, particularly at the outset, of the pollution incident in San Francisco last November, all eyes are focused on the USCG. At the heart of the problem, from an over-arching viewpoint, is that the USCG is simply stretched too thin. With great attention given to maritime security, the mission of marine safety (which includes matters related to spill prevention and response) is getting short shrift.

A report by retired USCG vice admiral Jim Card, well known for his Prevention Through People program implemented in the 1990s, calls for a fresh look at how the USCG interacts with industry. Why, he poses, has the notion of sub-contracting out significant maritime safety functions to the private sector not been widely embraced?

Existing bureaucracy is not always a friend to our industry: we all need to get out in front of it and force the hand of the potical representatives that may well be tomorrow's leader of the free world.