Ohio Sen­a­tor Rob Port­man ® has been named 2019 Great Lakes Leg­is­la­tor of the Year by the largest labor/management coali­tion rep­re­sent­ing ship­ping on America’s Fourth Sea Coast. The award is pre­sent­ed annu­al­ly by Great Lakes Mar­itime Task Force (GLMTF) to a leg­is­la­tor who has helped advance water­borne com­merce on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Sea­way and was pre­sent­ed on August 9th at 1:30 p.m. at The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny, 4500 Divi­sion Avenue, Cleve­land, OH. 

“Sen­a­tor Port­man under­stands the impor­tance of marine trans­porta­tion to our nation­al and region­al economies,” said John D. Bak­er, Pres­i­dent of GLMTF in 2019. “As co-chair of the Great Lakes Con­gres­sion­al Task Force, Sen­a­tor Port­man often works in a bipar­ti­san way on the com­plex issues con­fronting the region.”

Bak­er, Pres­i­dent Emer­i­tus of the Inter­na­tion­al Long­shore­men Asso­ci­a­tion’s Great Lakes Dis­trict Coun­cil, said, “GLTMF is espe­cial­ly grate­ful that Sen­a­tor Port­man played a key role in pass­ing the Ves­sel Inci­den­tal Dis­charge Act as part of the Coast Guard Autho­riza­tion Bill. While pre­serv­ing a role for the states and the Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency, it charged the Coast Guard with pri­ma­ry respon­si­bil­i­ty for imple­ment­ing and enforc­ing ves­sel reg­u­la­tions. Sen­a­tor Port­man nego­ti­at­ed lan­guage that over­whelm­ing­ly passed the House and Senate.”

“Sen­a­tor Portman’s com­mit­ment to work­force devel­op­ment and inter­est in U.S. ship­build­ing are oth­er rea­sons for his selec­tion,” said Richard Ham­mer, 1st Vice Pres­i­dent of GLMTF and Assis­tant Gen­er­al Man­ag­er of Don­jon Ship­build­ing and Repair. “Pre­sent­ing the award at the Great Lakes Ship­yard on the Cuya­hoga Riv­er is an appro­pri­ate venue,” he continued.

John E. Clemons, 2rd Vice Pres­i­dent of GLMTF and Nation­al Vice Pres­i­dent Great Lakes for Amer­i­can Mar­itime Offi­cers, stressed Sen­a­tor Portman’s sup­port for a strong U.S.-flag mer­chant marine played anoth­er role in his selec­tion. “As a mem­ber of the Home­land Secu­ri­ty and Gov­ern­ment Affairs Com­mit­tee, Sen­a­tor Port­man under­stands that the eco­nom­ic secu­ri­ty, home­land secu­ri­ty and nation­al secu­ri­ty inter­ests of the Unit­ed States are best served by ves­sels crewed, built and owned by Americans.”

Jim Weak­ley, 3^rd Vice Pres­i­dent of GLMTF and Pres­i­dent of the Lake Car­ri­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion, stressed Sen­a­tor Portman’s sup­port for the many jobs along the water­front and the roles they play in the econ­o­my are unques­tioned.  “Sen­a­tor Port­man con­tin­ues to work on envi­ron­men­tal and eco­nom­ic issues that ben­e­fit Lake Erie and the entire Great Lakes region.  His bipar­ti­san nature is a true tes­ta­ment to Mid­west val­ues and Ohio’s tra­di­tion of statesmanship.”

“I’m hon­ored to be named the 2019 Great Lakes Leg­is­la­tor of the Year by
the Great Lakes Mar­itime Task Force,” said Port­man. “As co-chair of the Senate
Great Lakes Task Force, I will con­tin­ue to lead the fight to pro­tect our Great
Lakes while ensur­ing our ship­ping indus­try in Ohio and across the region
remains com­pet­i­tive. Lake Erie is an Ohio trea­sure that pro­vides drink­ing water
for three mil­lion Ohioans, sup­ports hun­dreds of thou­sands of jobs, and draws
mil­lions of vis­i­tors each year. I will con­tin­ue to fight to help pre­serve this
trea­sure for future generations.”

With his selec­tion as Great Lakes Leg­is­la­tor of the Year, Sen­a­tor Port­man becomes the eleventh Ohio leg­is­la­tor to receive the award since its incep­tion in 1998. Pre­vi­ous recip­i­ents are Sen. John D. Glenn (D); Rep. Louis B. Stokes (D); Rep. Steve LaTourette ®; Sen. Mike DeWine ®; Sen. George Voinovich ®; Rep. Mar­cy Kap­tur (D); Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D); Rep. Bet­ty Sut­ton (D); Rep. Bob Gibbs ® and Rep. David Joyce ®.

Found­ed in 1992, Great Lakes Mar­itime Task Force pro­motes domes­tic and inter­na­tion­al ship­ping on the Great Lakes.  With 78 mem­bers, it is the largest U.S. coali­tion to ever speak for the Great Lakes ship­ping com­mu­ni­ty and draws its mem­ber­ship from both labor and man­age­ment rep­re­sent­ing U.S.-flag ves­sel oper­a­tors, ship­board and long­shore unions, port author­i­ties, car­go ship­pers, ter­mi­nal oper­a­tors, ship­yards and oth­er Great Lakes inter­ests.  Its goals include ensur­ing Lakes dredg­ing is ade­quate­ly fund­ed, con­struc­tion of a sec­ond Poe-sized lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michi­gan, bol­ster­ing the Coast Guard’s ice­break­ing resources; pro­tect­ing the Jones Act and oth­er U.S. mar­itime cab­o­tage laws and reg­u­la­tions; max­i­miz­ing the Lakes over­seas trade via the St. Lawrence Sea­way; oppos­ing exports and/or increased diver­sions of Great Lakes water; and expand­ing short sea ship­ping on the Lakes.

For more infor­ma­tion con­tact Jim Weak­ley, Pres­i­dent: (440) 333‑9995 / E‑Mail: weakley@lcaships.com