Realize America's Maritime Promise

Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Fairness Coalition

RAMP is a coalition of maritime companies formed to seek a legislative fix to the maintenance dredging crisis facing the nations ports and waterways. The crisis is such that our shipping channels are being neglected and continue to offer much less service than they are intended to. Ironically, Federal taxes are being collected to pay for this overdue maintenance dredging yet only half of what is collected is being spent for its intended purpose. RAMP seeks to emphasize and remind Congress about the importance of the maritime infrastructure to the US economy and seek legislation that will make sure our shipping channels are maintained as intended. Given the fact that a taxing mechanism and revenue stream already exist for this purpose, our plan is to mobilize the U.S. maritime community to make sure that these tax collections are spent as they were intended, on Maintenance Dredging!!!!!!

The Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund and its Harbor Maintenance Tax were authorized in the Water Resources Development Act of 1986. The purpose of the Tax, a 0.125% ad valorem tax levied on cargo imported or domestically moved through Federally maintained channels and harbors, is to pay for Army Corps of Engineers operations and maintenance of these ports and harbors. The Tax is collected by the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection and directed to the Trust Fund. However, the monies are not immediately eligible for dredging activities. Those monies can only be spent if the funding is actually appropriated by Congress. In Fiscal Year 2008, the tax revenues collected amounted to $1.6 billion, yet only $766 million was actually allowed to be used by the Corps.