National Waterways Conference Annual Meeting

September 21-23, New Orleans, La. "Waterway Policies in Flux: Managing the Dynamics of Change" is the theme of the National Waterways Conference's (NWC) 1994 annual meeting, to be held at the Inter-Continental Hotel in New Orleans. Some 400 business, civic and waterways leaders are expected to attend.

The annual meeting will explore changes, or proposed changes, in national policies governing freight transportation, inland navigation projects, waterwayuser taxes, floodplain management and environmental regulations.

Even the NWC's annual meeting program has not escaped change. For the first time in the organization's 34-year history, a railway industry official will be one of the featured speakers.

The Speakers Edwin L. Harper of Washington, D.C., president and CEO of the Assn. of American Railroads, will address the opening luncheon meeting. Born in Illinois, he comes from a family which was involved in river transportation and in railroading. In his remarks, he will stress the growing interest in the shipping community in intermodalism.

Mr. Harper plans to discuss combination rail-water routes in serving new markets, particularly in Mexico and Central America, and other ways in which rail, water and other modes can work more closely in the future. Mr. Harper will be introduced by J. Ron Brinson, president and CEO of the Port of New Orleans.

Speaking at the closing luncheon will be Jerry E. Van Der Kamp of West Des Moines, la., president and CEO of AGRI Industries, a regional grain marketing cooperative owned by 225 local cooperative elevators in Iowa and Minnesota. AGRI, in turn, owns three river terminals and operates 500 rail cars and several barges.

In a recent paper, he criticized the Administration's 1993 proposal to increase inland waterway fuel taxes by $1 a gallon, which Congress later rejected. Mr. Van Der Kamp charged that such a tax would cause the U.S. to lose market share and result in grain producers receiving lower market prices for their grain. Some 25 others will participate in six panel discussions at the waterways convention. They will include: • Maj. Gen. Stanley G. Genega of Washington, D.C., director of civil works for the Army Corps of Engineers, who will report on the status of the agency's port and waterway program.

Such presentations are a regular feature of NWC annual meetings. • M. J. Fiocco, freight transportation specialist in the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Intermodalism.

Ms. Fiocco formerly worked for the National Industrial Transportation League.

• Dr. Robert M. Engler of Vicksburg, Miss., manager of the environmental effects of dredging programs at the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station.

Dr. Engler was recently named international chairman of Permanent Environment Commission of the Brussels-based Permanent International Assn. of Navigation Congresses (PIANC).

• James D. Pugh of Memphis, president of Americas Marine Express, which recently began offering ship service between Memphis and Central America, utilizing a combination river-ocean vessel. • Harry N. Cook of Washington, D.C., president of the National Waterways Conference, Inc., who will present his annual report on the "state of the waterways." Several other waterway organizations plan meetings to coincide with the NWC convention. They include the Arkansas Waterways Commission, Domestic Water Transportation Committee of the National Industrial Transportation League, Inland Rivers Ports & Terminals, Inc., Standing Committee on Water Transportation of the American Assn. of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the U.S. Section of PIANC.

The Program The 1994 NWC convention will kick off on Wednesday, Sept. 21, with a tour of the Port of New Orleans, starting at the new Nashville Avenue port complex and ending with an inspection of the Industrial Lock.

Conference Chmn.W. Richard Christensen, recently retired vice president of Ashland Oil, Inc., will open the NWC convention on Thursday, Sept. 22.

After Mr. Cook's report, the first panel will assess the outlook for barge shipments of grain, coal and chemicals.

The second panel will address intermodal issues, followed by a luncheon at which Mr. Harper will speak.

Two afternoon panels will be concerned with the waterway user tax issue, which is considered to be on the front burner in Washington with the recent appointment of Alice M. Rivlin, a longtime proponent of navigation cost recovery, as the new director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

In the evening, there will be a banquet in the Inter-Continental Hotel ballroom.

On Friday morning, two additional panels are scheduled. The first will examine environmental restrictions and how they affect port and waterway programs, and the second will explore possible changes in floodplain management policies. The final luncheon, at which Mr. Van Der Kamp is to speak, will follow.

A spouses' program has been arranged on Thursday, Sept. 22. It will feature a tour of the Garden District and lunch at Commander's Palace, a widely known restaurant in that area.

Larry R. Daily of New Orleans, vice president of Canal Barge Co., is general chairman of the 1994 NWC convention.

An opening reception will be held at the Inter- Continental Hotel on Wednesday evening.

For additional information, including convention registration and hotel reservation forms, contact NWC, 1130 17th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036, tel: (202) 296-4415, fax: (202) 835- 3861