The Armada team will be proudly celebrating National Maritime Day on May 22nd.
Armada is committed to raising awareness of the importance of the US maritime sector to our economy, way of life, and the defense of the nation.
As a port insurer, we understand just how important our country’s port infrastructure is. There are more than 300 US ports managing over one billion tons of imports and exports each year. Our ports and shipyards further support our merchant marine and the US Navy fleets which are the engine of our sector.
In addition, we support this year’s theme ‘Mariners Move The Nation: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow’. As an industry, we must continue to do all we can to help mariners on inland and ocean vessels. This is why Armada is sponsoring this year’s NAMMA (North American Maritime Ministry Association) conference on August 1st-3rd in Seattle, Washington, to support the agencies helping mariners at ports across the US and Canada.
We further look forward to meeting many of our marine industry friends at our stand at the Inland Marine Expo in Nashville later this month and at the Great Lakes Ports Association conference in Chicago in July.
The US maritime industry:
- Moves over 1 billion tons of cargo annually, with a market value of $400 billion;
- Transports more than 100 million passengers annually ride ferries and excursion boats;
- Sustains 74,000 jobs on vessels and at shipyards;
- Sustains nearly 650,000 jobs in total;
- Produces over $150 billion in annual economic output;
- $41 billion in annual wages spent in virtually every community in the United States;
- $16 billion in taxes per annum; and
- $72 billion added to the value of U.S. economic output each year.
- Source American Maritime Partnership.
National Maritime Day is observed on May 22, the date that the American steamship Savannah sailed from the United States to England. This event marked the first successful crossing of the Atlantic Ocean using steam propulsion. On May 20, 1933, Congress declared May 22 as National Maritime Day. During World War II more than 250,000 members of the American Merchant Marine served their country, with more than 6700 giving their lives, hundreds being detained as prisoners of war and more than 800 ships being sunk or damaged.
