MPA Executive Director

William P. Doyle was appointed Executive Director of the MDOT Maryland Port Administration (MPA) following an extensive global search on July 22, 2020. He is a U.S. Merchant Marine officer first by trade, Lieutenant U.S. Navy Reserve (ret), marine engineer, lawyer, and a former U.S. Federal Maritime Commissioner - appointed by President Barack Obama and twice unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

As Executive Director, Mr. Doyle oversees and manages the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore’s six state-owned, public marine terminals. The marine terminals handle autos, breakbulk, containers, cruise, farm and construction equipment, and forest products.

Mr. Doyle was recently appointed by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to the Maritime Transportation System National Advisory Committee which provides information and recommendations to Secretary Buttigieg through the U.S. Maritime Administration on matters relating to the maritime industry and its role in overall transportation. He was also named by the Honorable Patrick J. Murphy, the 32nd Under Secretary of the Army and Iraqi War Veteran from the 82nd Airborne Division, to serve on a White House Task Force helping to transition military veterans into trucking jobs.

The Port of Baltimore is one of the busiest seaports in the U.S. It handles more autos and farm and construction equipment than any other U.S. port. The Port also has a 50-foot-deep channel which allows it to accommodate some of the largest container ships in the world. The Port of Baltimore is one of Maryland’s leading economic generators with more than 15,300 direct jobs and more than 139,000 jobs in Maryland linked to it.

Key milestones achieved under Mr. Doyle’s leadership at the MPA include:

Federal environmental approval for the Baltimore Howard Street Tunnel Project which will rebuild an 1895 freight tunnel to allow for double-stacked intermodal container trains to and from the Port of Baltimore, generating additional business, and creating thousands of jobs. Construction began in 2022.
Completed dredging operations and the arrival of four additional Neo-Panamax container cranes at the Seagirt Marine Terminal that allows the Port of Baltimore to handle multiple ultra-large container ships simultaneously.
Secured the Project Partnership Agreement (PPA) with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the $4 billion Mid-Chesapeake Bay ecosystem restoration project. This project will rebuild James and Barren islands near Dorchester County and eventually replace Poplar Island as the state’s primary receiving site for bay channel dredged sediment. The Mid-Bay project includes restoration of 2,072 acres of lost remote island habitat on James Island and 72 acres of remote island habitat on Barren Island. Habitat may include submerged aquatic vegetation, mudflat, low marsh, high marsh, islands, ponds, channels, and upland areas. The first $43.1 million construction contract was officially awarded in October 2021 at Fort McHenry. The funding is made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, 2022.

Mr. Doyle has also led the MPA to securing additional business for the Port of Baltimore including the ZIM Shipping Lines E-Commerce Baltimore Express, a service from China and Southeast Asia to the U.S. East Coast; an Indian Subcontinent service with the Mediterranean Shipping Company; and a forest product service with Metsä Group of Finland and Logistec that consolidated all Metsä Group’s Mid-Atlantic volumes through the Port of Baltimore.

Prior to his appointment to the MPA, Mr. Doyle was the CEO and Executive Director for the Dredging Contractors of America representing the U.S. dredging and marine construction industry. Mr. Doyle helped craft legislative initiatives in conjunction with the White House and Congress which resulted in securing more than $2 billion for harbor maintenance dredging, deepening, widening, coastal restoration, and beach nourishment for the association’s membership. He also established relationships with private sector principals and the highest uniform and civilian leaders in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Defense, U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of Commerce.

Mr. Doyle served for five years (2013 through 2018) as a U.S. Federal Maritime Commissioner. There, he chaired the U.S.-China Bilateral Maritime Trade Consultations and co-chaired the Mid-Atlantic Northeast Port Congestion Forum in Baltimore with the late Helen Bentley which included port authorities, rail transportation, ILA labor, and trucking industry participants. He also worked with marine terminals and ports on supply chain movement solutions during the Hanjin Lines bankruptcy. As a Commissioner, Mr. Doyle built strong relationships with major ocean carriers and alliances in both Europe and Asia.

Mr. Doyle was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Weymouth. He is a 1992 graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering. He is a U.S. Merchant Marine officer first by trade, Lieutenant U.S. Navy Reserve (ret), marine engineer, and lawyer. As a cadet, he worked in the Quincy, Massachusetts shipyard breaking out vessels for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Upon graduation, he began sailing as an officer in the U.S. Merchant Marine. His shipboard experience included serving aboard ammunition ships in and around Diego Garcia, car carriers servicing Europe and the Pacific Rim, tanker vessels, and in the U.S. Maritime Administration’s U.S. Ready Reserve Force Fleet. While still serving in the U.S. Merchant Marine, Mr. Doyle entered law school at Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Throughout law school, Mr. Doyle worked his summer and winter breaks serving aboard pre-positioning ships in South Carolina, delivering jet fuel to Haifa, Israel, and transporting liquid-sulfur between ports along the Gulf Coast of the United States. He served as the In-House Counsel, Director of Government & Legislative Affairs, and then Chief of Staff for the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association (AFL-CIO).