Ben Mazzotta, a doctoral candidate in the Maritime Studies Program at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, has an op-ed in today’s Providence Journal about the potential for short sea shipping in the Port of Providence:

Providence’s waterfront stands at a crossroads. Too often, we have to choose between jobs and open markets, or between jobs and the environment. Domestic maritime freight, known as short sea shipping, is ready to expand, particularly between New York and Boston. This change will ease highway congestion, shrink the region’s greenhouse-gas emissions and create jobs. Providence should reject proposed changes to the industrial zone, and keep private residences a safe distance from the port. Providence needs a working waterfront to become a leader in U.S. short sea shipping.

Mr. Mazzotta and a group of short sea shipping experts recently toured the Port of Providence.