AAPA corporate members are invited to nominate individuals for consideration as AAPA's 2021 Port Person(s) of the Year. Each year this prestigious award is given to an individual/s whose outstanding work has made a significant contribution to public ports and/or maritime commerce either internationally or within a particular country or region. Typically, nominees are not members of the public port community itself, but friends, allies, and ambassadors of ports.
For your consideration, AAPA staff urge you to remember the major accomplishments in 2020 to achieve the long-sought legislative solution to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund distribution. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) were key leaders in the CARES Act legislation and WRDA 2020, assuring full funding of annual HMT revenues, scheduled funding from the $10.1 billion in unspent tax collections and a funds distribution approach consistent with the AAPA’s ‘4 pillars’ agreement. We encourage you to consider nominating one or both of these champions to recognize their significant efforts on behalf of ports.
The formal criteria for eligibility, judging and submission can be found on the AAPA website. Please review the judging criteria and send at least one paragraph that describes why your nominee should receive the Port Person of the Year Award to Mary Beth Long, Vice President of Marketing and Workforce Development at mlong@aapa-ports.org no later than Friday, February 5, 2021. Selection of those receiving the honor for 2021 will be made by the AAPA Board.