What We Do

The Committee on the Marine Transportation System (CMTS) is the latest Federal effort to coordinate the myriad partners involved in the Marine Transportation System (MTS). Chaired by the Secretary of Transportation, the CMTS is tasked to ensure the development and implementation of national MTS policies consistent with national needs and to report to the President its views and recommendations for improving the MTS.

The MTS is essential to the American economy; it supports millions of American jobs, facilitates trade, moves people and goods, and provides a safe, secure, cost-effective, and energy-efficient transportation alternative. But because much of the system’s infrastructure is aging and constrained by capacity limitations, the CMTS is working to ensure that the MTS continues to meet the present and future needs of our nation.

The activities of the CMTS are guided by the 34 actions laid out in the National Strategy for Marine Transportation System. When an issue does not fall neatly within the purview of a single agency's authority or when efficiencies can be gained by leveraging expertise from multiple agencies around a common goal, the CMTS can be a valuable tool for engagement. The CMTS partnership has also been used for addressing timely or emerging issues such as enhanced communications regarding permit applications for projects of national significance and climate change adaptation.

This interagency collaboration has resulted in a safer, more secure, environmentally friendly, and efficient MTS. Collectively, these improvements will save lives and money. The CMTS is addressing a number of important issues that affect the safety, security, air and water quality, and the efficient movement of freight and people at our nation’s coasts and waterways and associated port facilities.