At the same time that Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) was introducing the Maritime Administration Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2010 into Congress, the European Commission was holding meetings on impact of the economic crisis on maritime transport industries. Maritime Executive has a good summation of what’s happening on both sides of the pond. Don’t miss the links to more European info at the end of the story.

“The strength of our freight transportation system is being threatened by our overwhelmed roads and bridges – and the simple, smart solution is to ship more of America’s goods by sea,” said Sen. Lautenberg, “Shipping by barge reduces congestion on roads, cuts emissions and energy consumption, and improves safety.”

For anyone familiar with short sea shipping, this article — “Sacramento region gears up for ‘marine highway’ system: Cargo to be shipped by barge between Port of Oakland and Port of West Sacramento” — is familiar territory. What’s good to see, however, is the community support in the comments section.

“Very soon, you will see barges loaded with containerized cargo sailing into the Port of West Sacramento. This movement of goods is called the “marine highway” and it will help bring hundreds of new jobs to the region while improving air quality and reducing highway congestion by taking more than 1 million truck trips off area roads.”