MARAD, the U.S. Maritime Administration, recently released details of a series of eleven new designs for coastwise shipping vessels specifically engineered to operate on a number of short sea transit routes earmarked in 2010 by the Administration as ‘America’s Marine Highways’ (AMH).  Herbert Engineering Corporation of Annapolis, commissioned by MARAD, published a  comprehensive feasibility study of opportunities for growth on these maritime short-trade routes in October 2011, embodying suitable ship designs to serve on AMH. (For those unfamiliar with the AMH concept, it is a worthy initiative that aims to attract some of the trucking of trailers and cargoes away from roads and bridges in order to relieve congestion, pollution, and wear and tear from large tractor trailers on the nation’s highway system; spin-off benefits include job creation in the the mercantile marine as well as investment in the U.S. shipbuilding industry). An example of one... [More]