The meeting began with presentations from our federal partners at the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Maritime Administration of the U.S. DOT (MARAD) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Their presentations covered a variety of topics including:

• A keynote presentation by USCG Captain Frank DelRusso, Commander of Sector Charleston, on Sector Charleston activities and opportunities to participate in USCG efforts through collaboration and participation in local stakeholder groups
• An update on the National Navigation Program and Beneficial Use of Dredged Material by Katie Brutsche from USACE Headquarters, including a specific presentation on their Engineering with Nature program by Safra Altman
• The history of funding and waterway projects over the past 15 years from USACE Divisions
• State of the Waterway presentations of recently completed projects and upcoming projects for all USACE Districts along the waterway in 2025
• An update on the Marine Highways program from MARAD by Fred Jones
• An update on survey and response programs including the Francis Scott Key Bridge response from NOAA by James Kirkpatrick

After hearing from our federal partners, we invited Mike Sayre from the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas to highlight the connections between the marine manufacturers and the boating community. We concluded with a joint presentation from Julie Ufner of the National Waterways Conference and Brian Vahey of the American Waterways Operators providing a high-level perspective on Washington, DC and upcoming changes in the next Congress and Administration.

Day two began with a presentation on the path of progress for new technologies and capacities in surveying and monitoring by our partners Lou Nash of Measutronics and Mike Carris of Trimble. Their presentation offered a great bridge from day one as they identified how constant innovation has led to efficiencies and accuracy in moving waterway maintenance projects forward as we look to move the AIWA forward.

Moving from management and planning to waterway dredging with our industry panel, we invited Devon Carlock of Cottrell Contracting Corporation, Stan Ekren of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, Craig Seibert of Southwind Construction and Chris Gillespie of Marinex Construction to share challenges and opportunities in dredge operations. Key takeaways included investments by the dredging industry to increase capacity, safety enhancements and concerns, and efforts to streamline bidding and contracting for federal projects.

Continuing to build on recent successes along the waterway with the innovative use of dredged material, we invited Krystyna Powell from USACE to highlight regulatory challenges and Ram Mohan and Rob Holmes to showcase efforts underway to expand the use of natural systems to increase coastal resiliency. The AIWA is proud to support the efforts at the University of Georgia’s Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems, and serve on the Technical Advisory Committee for the Tidelands Project led by Auburn University, University of Pennsylvania and University of Virginia.

Our final panel highlighted key areas we believe the AIWA can make a difference in waterway advocacy over the next 25 years. They include communication and coordination on bridge replacement projects that impact vessel movement through the waterway, encroachment and access along the waterway, and safety of dredge operations through increased education to our recreational community. These discussions were led by Hal Pitts at USCG District 5, Janet Zimmerman from the Florida Inland Navigation District and Devon Carlock of Cottrell Contracting.

We want to thank all of our speakers, sponsors and attendees for your participation in our 25th Anniversary meeting. Anchors aweigh for another 25 years!

• General Navigation – House: $931.945 million, Senate: $20 million
• Inland Waterways – House: $50 million, Senate: $64.987 million
• Small, Remote & Subsistence Navigation – House: $90 million, Senate: $329,178 million

We will await passage of the next appropriations bill before we are able to identify our final funding amounts for FY25. However, the good news is that contracted work continues on the waterway and we are not yet facing impacts from this delay.