b'LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENTAT THE HELM Kicking Off a Successful Busy SeasonPATRICK MURPHY // PRESIDENTW ell, its that time of the year again when allthe CERTS Tax Exemption Act, and U.S. Coast Guard of us vessel members are gearing up for thefunding for recruitment and retention of qualified per-busy season. Vessels have been meticulouslysonneltoconducttheirmission.Thesemeetingswere inspected for maintenance needsfrom the integrity ofhighly productive as members of Congress and their staff the hull to the reliability of the engines, from fine tuningwere reminded of the importance of our industry in the of the navigational equip- nationseconomy.Abig menttocheckingtheshout out to the PVA board safetygear.ExistingandFor this summer in particularmemberswhoattended newmembershaveun- thesemeetingsandto dergone training to brushthere is good news fromRichardPatchforsetting uponcustomerservice,U.S. Travel. The advocacyit all up. safetyprotocols,taken refreshercoursesorob- organization is predicting anThat same week, I met with tainednewcertification,increase in international arrivalsAdmiralWayneArguin andreviewedstandardand other key members of operating procedures. Forcompared to 2023 with volumetheCoastGuardleader-this summer in particularreaching 98 percent of 2019ship,andPVAleadership thereisgoodnewsfromand staff at the spring U.S. U.S. Travel. The advocacypre-pandemic levels. DomesticCoastGuard/PVAQual-organization is predictingleisure travel has alreadyityPartnershipmeeting. an increase in internation- reached pre-pandemic levels.Emphasiswasplacedon alarrivalscomparedtoareas of concern and how 2023 with volume reach- wecanworktogetherto ing98percentof2019makeourindustrysafer. pre-pandemic levels. Domestic leisure travel has alreadyThis partnership is extremely important as we navigate reached pre-pandemic levels. As members get ready forthroughmoderntechnologies,cybersecurityrequire-what should be a successful and enjoyable summer sea- ments,firefightingsafety,sexualassaultandsexual son, PVA leadership has also been busy. It started in earlyharassment (SASH) reporting, and safety management May when a few board members and staff met in Wash- systems. I was surprised to hear that our inspected T, ington, D.C.K, and H fleet are at nearly 6,700 vessels, an increase of seventy-five vessels over the last few years. It is impera-On May 7, I had the pleasure of joining PVA Vice Presi- tive that we try and solve problems in a non-regulatory dent Steve Jones, PVA Secretary/Treasurer Andrew Sar- environment. I want to thank past PVA President Dave gis, past PVA President Bob Bijur, PVA Board memberAndersonandPVABoardMembersCarolHill,Ben John Lake, PVA Executive Director John Groundwater,Bernstein, Erik Bombard, PVA Director of Regulatory and PVA Legislative Director Richard Patch on CapitolAffairsandRiskManagementEricChristensen,PVA Hill to discuss issues that are important to our industry.RegulatoryAffairsConsultantPeteLauridsen,PVA Issues like lengthy visa wait times along with the Cred- Director of Finance Leslie Kagarise, and PVA Safety and itCardCompetitionAct,IllegalCharterOperations,Security Committee Chair Chris Myers for joining the Continued on page 47FOGHORN 4'