Lance Sannino, a partner in the Maritime Practice Group, and Jim Kearns, special counsel in the Maritime Practice Group, co-authored the Waterways Journal article "Recent Improvements to the Port Infrastructure Development Program for Small Ports," with Aimee Andres, executive director for Inland Rivers, Ports and Terminals, Inc. (IRPT). The authors explain that the Port Infrastructure Development Program administered by the US Maritime Administration had not been helping many smaller inland and coastal ports since they were not able to meet the minimum threshold for a grant request of at least $10 million or 10 percent of the total amount appropriated by Congress for the program in that year. To address this issue, IRPT successfully worked with Congress to have 18 percent of each year's appropriation for the program reserved for smaller inland and coastal ports, with no minimum dollar amount for grant requests.