WCI To Hold Annual Symposium In San Antonio

Maritime industry and waterway stakeholders will gather in San Antonio, Texas, November 13–15 for the 21st annual Waterways Symposium and meeting of the board of directors of Waterways Council Inc. (WCI).

With the event falling just over a week after the November 5 general election and on the heels of a string of unplanned closures and cost overruns at locks on the inland waterways, the agenda of this year’s Waterways Symposium is both timely and weighty, said Tracy Zea, president and CEO of WCI. The highlight from a waterways infrastructure and funding perspective, Zea said, will be a report by Eddie Belk, director of civil works for the Army Corps of Engineers.

“From a WCI side, we’ve got everything from low water to Lower Mon construction failure to Kentucky and Chickamauga [locks] now coming back because they need more money,” Zea said. “So I imagine Eddie Belk’s presentation will be very interesting. The Corps has received an additional $4.2 billion above the budget over the last 10 years. The only project that’s operational is Olmsted, and Kentucky and Chickamauga locks are still five years out, so hearing from Eddie on the construction portfolio is going to be interesting.”

Zea said the questions and concerns for the maritime industry go well beyond new construction, with emergency closures at Demopolis, Holt and Wilson locks—all in Alabama—in just the past year. The Mobile Engineer District was able to reopen Demopolis and Holt locks in a matter of months, while the Nashville District and the Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns Wilson Lock, are still in the early stages of repairs there.

“Wilson Lock is shut down, and people are going to be interested in how we can expedite that and also provide the long-term solution, potentially with Tennessee Valley Authority paying for that,” Zea said.

Zea admitted that the emergency closures have been concerning, especially taken alongside new construction projects on the system.

“From a WCI standpoint, we’re going to have to advocate for operations and maintenance increases a lot more than we have in the past and put a focus on that,” Zea said. “Overall, our system is still strong and very reliable, but we don’t want this to become the norm across the system.”

On the political side, Nathan Gonzales, editor and publisher of Inside Elections, will unpack the outcome of the November 5 election and what that means for the next Congress. Gonzales will be the lunch keynote speaker. While he hopes presidential and congressional races will be decided by November 14, Zea emphasized that WCI leadership and members will be ready to advocate for waterways infrastructure and funding regardless of who is in the White House or Congress. As evidence, Zea pointed to the past two years in Washington.

“If you look at this two-year cycle, it is the least number of bills that will ever be enacted into law by a significant margin,” Zea said. “But if you look at the appropriations numbers that were received for the inland waterways this year, it’s record-level funding for fiscal year 24, and you’re about to get the second highest level in fiscal year 25 if they pass that by December 20. … So as far as the election, we’re less worried about who wins or loses and more focused on, ‘Let’s finalize this so we can figure out our game plan and go attack it,’ because at the end of the day everyone supports infrastructure. Everyone supports keeping America competitive in the global marketplace. We feel good about being able to accomplish that with whoever’s in the White House or Congress. Just give us the cards and let us go play.”

The Waterways Symposium will also look at how geopolitics and the global supply chain impact the inland waterways of the United States. To start the event, Rodger Baker, executive director of the Stratfor Center for Applied Geopolitics at RANE, will look at the “geopolitical importance of the U.S. inland waterways.” That afternoon, Ken Eriksen, managing member and strategic adviser at Polaris Analytics and Consulting, will speak on the economic outlook and the global supply chain for commodities moving on inland waterways of the United States.

Attendees will also hear from Charles Robertson, president and CEO of American Cruise Lines (ACL), one of WCI’s newest members, on the diverse uses of the nation’s rivers and canals. American Cruise Lines owns the largest fleet of passenger cruise vessels that operate in U.S. waters. In addition, one of ACL’s pilots, Capt. Joy Manthey, will receive the National Rivers Hall of Fame National Achievement Award during the Waterways Symposium.

The 21st annual Waterways Symposium will be held at the Omni La Mansión del Rio hotel along the San Antonio River Walk. For more information on Waterways Symposium registration, visit www.waterwayscouncil.org and click “Get Involved.”