Marine Exchange of the San Francisco Bay Region

Bay Area Committees

 

Harbor Safety Committee

In 1990, The California State Legislature enacted the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act (OSPRA). The goals of OSPRA are to improve the prevention, removal, abatement, response, containment and clean up and mitigation of oil spills in the marine waters of California. The Act (SB 2040) created harbor safety committees for the major harbors of the State of California to plan “for the safe navigation and operation of tankers, barges, and other vessels within each harbor…(by preparing)…a harbor safety plan, encompassing all vessel traffic within the harbor.” The Harbor Safety Committee of the San Francisco Bay Region was officially sworn in on September 18, 1991 and held its first meeting on that date. The original Harbor Safety Plan for San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun Bays was adopted on August 13, 1992. SB 2040 mandates that the Harbor Safety Committee must annually review its previously adopted Harbor Safety Plan and recommendations and submit the annual review to the OSPR Administrator for comment.

 

Northern California Area Maritime Security Committee

The mission of this Area Maritime Security Committee is to help coordinate planning, information sharing, and other necessary activities to aide the security of the Marine Transportation System. The geographic boundaries of this Committee include the entire Captain of the Port San Francisco area of responsibility.

 

Trade Facilitation Committee

International trade, by its very nature, involves many entities beyond buyer and seller. Each develops their own association or forum to promote and resolve their own issues. The Facilitation Committee of the Marine Exchange of the San Francisco Bay Region is unique in treating all facets of international trade as an interwoven, single entity.

The San Francisco Marine Exchange Trade Facilitation Committee brings together in an informal structure representatives from the USCG, CBP, MARAD, insurers, attorneys, freight forwarders, customs brokers, ports, carriers, stevedores, bankers, Congress, and the Senate. The objective, as stated by its name, is to provide assistance, ease, support, and mitigation; to disentangle, extricate, increase accessibility, manage, influence, and promote (or facilitate,) trade.