Nearly $2 trillion worth of imports and exports are transported aboard 60,000 ocean-faring vessels through the nation’s seaports each year, while over 11 million Americans board cruise ships from these same ports annually. Much of this shipping is along routes that are impacted by severe storms at sea, extratropical, tropical, and even polar. Despite investments made in weather forecasting that have substantially improved predictability, ships still transit into hazardous conditions, sometimes unavoidably. Weather conditions, tides, and currents in ports and harbors can impact the timing of vessel movements, port operations, and the entire ground transportation system. Our ability to observe, understand, and predict the interaction between the ocean and atmosphere, in the open oceans as well as the littoral, supports Blue Economy initiatives as well as maritime security. This panel will explore opportunities for improving safety at sea and enhancing our national and economic security by building partnerships among service providers and users, to improve the value of the forecasts, aid in the avoidance of extreme weather conditions at sea, integrate weather and oceanographic information with shipboard navigation systems, and enhance research and development to improve predictability of the maritime environment.