U.S. Maritime Alliance Ltd.

The International Longshoremen’s Association and USMX have agreed to start early negotiations for a new master contract. The parties expect to begin early this year. We believe it is important to protect the economic benefits gained by the maritime industry because of the labor stability that has been brought to the U.S. East and Gulf coasts. Negotiating a labor contract can be a difficult process. It requires diligence, patience and a willingness to compromise on both sides. But most importantly, the end result must be a “win-win” situation for all parties. Both the ILA and USMX are committed to continued labor stability on the East and Gulf coasts. It will take, however, more than just labor peace and stability to maintain our competitive position in the marketplace. There are a number of other challenges that also need to be addressed. We need to invest in improving our infrastructure — our roads, bridges and tunnels. We have to keep improving terminal throughput by continuing to introduce new technology. We must continue to attract additional capital investments in our facilities. And we need to accomplish these things with due consideration to the impact on our environment. Meeting these challenges will necessitate interaction between the public and private sectors, and will require hard work, understanding, cooperation and compromise. I firmly believe that we are up to the challenge.