Chair Cantwell, Ranking Member Cruz and members of the Committee, good morning and thank you for the opportunity to appear here before you today as a nominee to be Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC). I would also thank you both for the courtesies that your staff extended to me throughout the nomination process. I would like to recognize my Chairman, Dan Maffei and thank him for being here in supportive attendance. Most importantly, I would like to recognize my wife, Suzanne, who I met and fell for while working here on the Commerce Committee. Finally, I would like to thank President Biden for nominating me for a second term.
When I came before this Committee, as a nominee, five years ago, the world and the Federal Maritime Commission were in a different place. The pandemic had not yet gripped the country. The shipping industry although essential to the nation’s economy was invisible to the public eye. Then it wasn’t. The earliest part of the pandemic resulted in reductions of over 20% imports of containerized cargo through West Coast ports, and then by early summer swung to over 30% increases, a stunning change in demand. During the entirety of the pandemic, we saw 27% increases of imported containers and 1% increases of exports.
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