Posted:
December 10, 2012
By Tom Bethel
National President
On December 4, TOTE Inc. announced that it had ordered two revolutionary containerships from the General Dynamics NASSCO yard in San Diego for Jones Act service between the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico, with options for three additional vessels of the same class. Delivery of the first vessel for service between Jacksonville and San Juan in 2015 will mark what TOTE called "a major technological milestone in international shipping" - the TOTE ships will be the world's largest vessels fueled by liquefied natural gas.
This news capped 2012 as another good year for American Maritime Officers, which held fast to its position as the nation's largest and strongest union of merchant marine officers in domestic and international trades. In all, our union this year filled the engine and deck officer billets on 10 new deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters vessels, and we now look forward to filling the licensed jobs on the new TOTE ships, which will be operated by TOTE subsidiary TOTE Services, Inc. This significant fleet expansion means new jobs for AMO and new employer contributions to the AMO benefit funds that serve AMO members, applicants for AMO membership and all AMO families.
Much of our union's unequaled growth in 2012 was in the deep-sea sector, where four heavy-lift ships joined the AMO fleet roster. Maersk Line, Limited operates the Maersk Illinois and Maersk Texas in heavy-lift trade, and Crowley Liner Services operates the Ocean Freedom and Ocean Giant.
These four vessels - which together represent substantial private investment in the American merchant fleet - were reflagged American under AMO contract on the strength of successful legislation to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank of the United States for three years. The bank finances project cargo exports and other heavy-lift transactions, and these shipments are subject to U.S.-flag cargo preference requirements.
During Congressional consideration of the bill to renew the bank's charter, major exporters worked quietly with the Department of Transportation to eliminate or reduce the statutory U.S.-flag share of up to 100 percent. But our union took the lead in the Capitol Hill strategy that resulted in new life for the bank, an intact cargo preference mandate and new jobs for AMO. We were able to see this strategy through and overcome powerful interests only because of a strong, membership-supported American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund.
New opportunities for AMO developed on the domestic energy front as well in 2012. Our union went aboard the new petroleum product tankers American Phoenix and Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania was the first of two such vessels purchased by Crowley Maritime Corp. from Aker Philadelphia Shipyard.
These tankers and the TOTE containership order reflect continued confidence in the Jones Act, which holds all waterborne cargoes moving between and among U.S. ports for private sector merchant vessels owned, built, flagged and manned in the United States.
The Jones Act is not without its critics, and the law is challenged frequently, with much of the opposition rising from business interests and local lawmakers in the remote states and territories of Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and Guam. But the Jones Act endures because a broad bipartisan Congressional majority understands its value as an economic, national security and homeland security asset - a law that stands on merit, and which requires no federal spending. This, too, is among the dividends resulting from sound, sustained investment by the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund.
In the government trades, American Maritime Officers this year began work on the Offshore Petroleum Distribution System vessel VADM K.R. Wheeler under Military Sealift Command charter, enhancing our union's standing as the largest source of licensed seagoing professionals for MSC.
The AMO inland fleet grew by one vessel with delivery of the tug Handy-Three for Puerto Rico Towing & Barge Co., and AMO members on the Great Lakes welcomed the articulated tug-barge M/V Ken Boothe Sr./Lakes Contender, which is operated by American Steamship Co.
With respect to official union policy, 2012 saw the beginning of our union's new practical, realistic, 21st Century approach to doing business on the Great Lakes. Seagoing jobs on the Lakes had declined substantially over many years because of many factors, but previous AMO administrations had failed to adapt to the changing nature of the fleet and its largest customers - the basic steel industry and electric utilities. We sold what had become a pointless property owned by the AMO Pension Plan and put the proceeds into the retirement fund, reduced staff and operating overhead, and altered collective bargaining agreements to make it easier for AMO employers on the Great Lakes to compete effectively in an increasingly difficult business climate - all in the interest of greater stability, and all without sacrificing the economic security of the Great Lakes AMO membership.
Meanwhile, the American Maritime Officers Safety and Education Plan continued to keep STAR Center - Simulation, Training, Assessment & Research Center, our union's training and certification programs - ahead of the pack with such innovations as Dynamic Positioning, which in itself will do much to enhance long-term job and benefit security for seagoing AMO members and their families.
Finally, the joint union-employer trustees of the AMO Defined Contribution Plan instituted substantial improvements to this important retirement benefit, leading to larger individual DC Plan account balances and much higher payouts upon retirement.
Of course, there was one real disappointment this year - the bipartisan political sneak attack on cargo preference in the PL-480 food aid export trade, in which the lawful U.S.-flag share was reduced from 75 percent to 50 percent - a cut that has already cost AMO one bulk carrier lost to the Marshall Islands flag. At this writing, AMO was working quietly on key fronts to reverse this action in the most practical, politically appealing way.
Despite this setback, 2012 was a strong year for our strong union, and I have the deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO membership to thank for it. With their continued support, and with the singular professionalism they display each day in each job, we can approach the New Year confidently and comfortably.
As always, I welcome your comments and questions - feel free to call me on my cell at (202) 251-0349.
TOTE ship order caps another strong year for AMO
By Tom Bethel
National President
On December 4, TOTE Inc. announced that it had ordered two revolutionary containerships from the General Dynamics NASSCO yard in San Diego for Jones Act service between the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico, with options for three additional vessels of the same class. Delivery of the first vessel for service between Jacksonville and San Juan in 2015 will mark what TOTE called "a major technological milestone in international shipping" - the TOTE ships will be the world's largest vessels fueled by liquefied natural gas.
This news capped 2012 as another good year for American Maritime Officers, which held fast to its position as the nation's largest and strongest union of merchant marine officers in domestic and international trades. In all, our union this year filled the engine and deck officer billets on 10 new deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters vessels, and we now look forward to filling the licensed jobs on the new TOTE ships, which will be operated by TOTE subsidiary TOTE Services, Inc. This significant fleet expansion means new jobs for AMO and new employer contributions to the AMO benefit funds that serve AMO members, applicants for AMO membership and all AMO families.
Much of our union's unequaled growth in 2012 was in the deep-sea sector, where four heavy-lift ships joined the AMO fleet roster. Maersk Line, Limited operates the Maersk Illinois and Maersk Texas in heavy-lift trade, and Crowley Liner Services operates the Ocean Freedom and Ocean Giant.
These four vessels - which together represent substantial private investment in the American merchant fleet - were reflagged American under AMO contract on the strength of successful legislation to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank of the United States for three years. The bank finances project cargo exports and other heavy-lift transactions, and these shipments are subject to U.S.-flag cargo preference requirements.
During Congressional consideration of the bill to renew the bank's charter, major exporters worked quietly with the Department of Transportation to eliminate or reduce the statutory U.S.-flag share of up to 100 percent. But our union took the lead in the Capitol Hill strategy that resulted in new life for the bank, an intact cargo preference mandate and new jobs for AMO. We were able to see this strategy through and overcome powerful interests only because of a strong, membership-supported American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund.
New opportunities for AMO developed on the domestic energy front as well in 2012. Our union went aboard the new petroleum product tankers American Phoenix and Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania was the first of two such vessels purchased by Crowley Maritime Corp. from Aker Philadelphia Shipyard.
These tankers and the TOTE containership order reflect continued confidence in the Jones Act, which holds all waterborne cargoes moving between and among U.S. ports for private sector merchant vessels owned, built, flagged and manned in the United States.
The Jones Act is not without its critics, and the law is challenged frequently, with much of the opposition rising from business interests and local lawmakers in the remote states and territories of Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and Guam. But the Jones Act endures because a broad bipartisan Congressional majority understands its value as an economic, national security and homeland security asset - a law that stands on merit, and which requires no federal spending. This, too, is among the dividends resulting from sound, sustained investment by the AMO Voluntary Political Action Fund.
In the government trades, American Maritime Officers this year began work on the Offshore Petroleum Distribution System vessel VADM K.R. Wheeler under Military Sealift Command charter, enhancing our union's standing as the largest source of licensed seagoing professionals for MSC.
The AMO inland fleet grew by one vessel with delivery of the tug Handy-Three for Puerto Rico Towing & Barge Co., and AMO members on the Great Lakes welcomed the articulated tug-barge M/V Ken Boothe Sr./Lakes Contender, which is operated by American Steamship Co.
With respect to official union policy, 2012 saw the beginning of our union's new practical, realistic, 21st Century approach to doing business on the Great Lakes. Seagoing jobs on the Lakes had declined substantially over many years because of many factors, but previous AMO administrations had failed to adapt to the changing nature of the fleet and its largest customers - the basic steel industry and electric utilities. We sold what had become a pointless property owned by the AMO Pension Plan and put the proceeds into the retirement fund, reduced staff and operating overhead, and altered collective bargaining agreements to make it easier for AMO employers on the Great Lakes to compete effectively in an increasingly difficult business climate - all in the interest of greater stability, and all without sacrificing the economic security of the Great Lakes AMO membership.
Meanwhile, the American Maritime Officers Safety and Education Plan continued to keep STAR Center - Simulation, Training, Assessment & Research Center, our union's training and certification programs - ahead of the pack with such innovations as Dynamic Positioning, which in itself will do much to enhance long-term job and benefit security for seagoing AMO members and their families.
Finally, the joint union-employer trustees of the AMO Defined Contribution Plan instituted substantial improvements to this important retirement benefit, leading to larger individual DC Plan account balances and much higher payouts upon retirement.
Of course, there was one real disappointment this year - the bipartisan political sneak attack on cargo preference in the PL-480 food aid export trade, in which the lawful U.S.-flag share was reduced from 75 percent to 50 percent - a cut that has already cost AMO one bulk carrier lost to the Marshall Islands flag. At this writing, AMO was working quietly on key fronts to reverse this action in the most practical, politically appealing way.
Despite this setback, 2012 was a strong year for our strong union, and I have the deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO membership to thank for it. With their continued support, and with the singular professionalism they display each day in each job, we can approach the New Year confidently and comfortably.
As always, I welcome your comments and questions - feel free to call me on my cell at (202) 251-0349.