Posted:
June 30, 2010
Despite a long, distinguished and heroic career in the United States Navy, Sen. John McCain of Arizona has no understanding of the privately owned and operated U.S.-flagged merchant fleet as a critical component of American sea power worldwide. This is confirmed by Mr. McCain's Senate record on maritime policy issues.
S. 3525, Sen. McCain's bill to repeal the Jones Act, offers fresh evidence of the Senator's naive belief that the United States can do without its own merchant fleet and a strong civilian seagoing workforce for routine trade and for military support services in defense emergencies.
Enacted as Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, the Jones Act holds all domestic waterborne cargoes for merchant vessels owned, built, flagged and crewed in the United States. The law applies to coastal, Great Lakes and inland waters routes.
Today's Jones Act U.S. merchant fleet stands at more than 40,000 oceangoing, Great Lakes and inland vessels built at private expense in U.S. shipyards. This fleet represents an estimated 500,000 jobs on the vessels and ashore in the vessel operation, vessel construction and repair, service and supply and administrative support sectors.
Business and employment linked directly to the Jones Act generate millions each year in federal, state and local tax revenues.
The Jones Act also enhances national security. Many U.S.-flagged coastal container and roll-on/roll-off ships and tankers operating under Jones Act jurisdiction are suitable for strategic sealift service during wartime, and many of the U.S. merchant mariners employed in the Jones Act fleet are qualified to serve aboard the U.S. government-owned and chartered U.S.-flagged ships relied upon so heavily by the Department of Defense during mobilization and during the course of prolonged conflict. Indeed, an estimated 80 percent of U.S. citizen seafarers aboard sealift ships began their careers in Jones Act trades.
The Jones Act also helps protect the U.S. environment because U.S.-flagged merchant vessels are built and operated to the world's most demanding standards, and U.S. merchant mariners undergo the most comprehensive training and the most thorough vetting -- the risk of spills and other threats to fragile coastal, Great Lakes and inland ecosystems is reduced significantly through the exclusive use of U.S. vessels serving purely domestic markets. It should be noted in this context that the Deepwater Horizon was not a Jones Act vessel.
In his remarks upon filing S. 3525, Sen. McCain said the Jones Act "hinders free trade." Nonsense. U.S. maritime markets and U.S. ports are dominated by foreign-flagged cargo ships, which deliver some 96 percent of U.S. commercial imports and exports. Under S. 3525, the U.S. would surrender its waters completely to foreign interests.
Sen. McCain also said repeal of the Jones Act "could prove to be a true stimulus to our economy in the midst of such difficult economic times." It is impossible to reconcile this statement with the certain and immediate consequences of S. 3525 -- the elimination of hundreds of thousands of jobs, the failure of U.S. businesses and the loss of billions in private capital investment, a diminished tax revenue base, the inability of the U.S. to deliver defense cargoes to overseas points independently and securely, and real risk of new environmental catastrophe.
Sen. John McCain's "Open America's Waters Act" would in fact close U.S. seas, Great Lakes and rivers to American interests and compromise our nation's sovereignty. We in American Maritime Officers stand firmly against this measure and in support of the Jones Act as a proven, venerable law that works as intended, a law that serves legitimate and lasting U.S. economic and national security interests.
Thomas J. Bethel
National President
American Maritime Officers
McCain's 'Open America's Waters Act' would close U.S. seas to U.S. interests
Despite a long, distinguished and heroic career in the United States Navy, Sen. John McCain of Arizona has no understanding of the privately owned and operated U.S.-flagged merchant fleet as a critical component of American sea power worldwide. This is confirmed by Mr. McCain's Senate record on maritime policy issues.
S. 3525, Sen. McCain's bill to repeal the Jones Act, offers fresh evidence of the Senator's naive belief that the United States can do without its own merchant fleet and a strong civilian seagoing workforce for routine trade and for military support services in defense emergencies.
Enacted as Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, the Jones Act holds all domestic waterborne cargoes for merchant vessels owned, built, flagged and crewed in the United States. The law applies to coastal, Great Lakes and inland waters routes.
Today's Jones Act U.S. merchant fleet stands at more than 40,000 oceangoing, Great Lakes and inland vessels built at private expense in U.S. shipyards. This fleet represents an estimated 500,000 jobs on the vessels and ashore in the vessel operation, vessel construction and repair, service and supply and administrative support sectors.
Business and employment linked directly to the Jones Act generate millions each year in federal, state and local tax revenues.
The Jones Act also enhances national security. Many U.S.-flagged coastal container and roll-on/roll-off ships and tankers operating under Jones Act jurisdiction are suitable for strategic sealift service during wartime, and many of the U.S. merchant mariners employed in the Jones Act fleet are qualified to serve aboard the U.S. government-owned and chartered U.S.-flagged ships relied upon so heavily by the Department of Defense during mobilization and during the course of prolonged conflict. Indeed, an estimated 80 percent of U.S. citizen seafarers aboard sealift ships began their careers in Jones Act trades.
The Jones Act also helps protect the U.S. environment because U.S.-flagged merchant vessels are built and operated to the world's most demanding standards, and U.S. merchant mariners undergo the most comprehensive training and the most thorough vetting -- the risk of spills and other threats to fragile coastal, Great Lakes and inland ecosystems is reduced significantly through the exclusive use of U.S. vessels serving purely domestic markets. It should be noted in this context that the Deepwater Horizon was not a Jones Act vessel.
In his remarks upon filing S. 3525, Sen. McCain said the Jones Act "hinders free trade." Nonsense. U.S. maritime markets and U.S. ports are dominated by foreign-flagged cargo ships, which deliver some 96 percent of U.S. commercial imports and exports. Under S. 3525, the U.S. would surrender its waters completely to foreign interests.
Sen. McCain also said repeal of the Jones Act "could prove to be a true stimulus to our economy in the midst of such difficult economic times." It is impossible to reconcile this statement with the certain and immediate consequences of S. 3525 -- the elimination of hundreds of thousands of jobs, the failure of U.S. businesses and the loss of billions in private capital investment, a diminished tax revenue base, the inability of the U.S. to deliver defense cargoes to overseas points independently and securely, and real risk of new environmental catastrophe.
Sen. John McCain's "Open America's Waters Act" would in fact close U.S. seas, Great Lakes and rivers to American interests and compromise our nation's sovereignty. We in American Maritime Officers stand firmly against this measure and in support of the Jones Act as a proven, venerable law that works as intended, a law that serves legitimate and lasting U.S. economic and national security interests.
Thomas J. Bethel
National President
American Maritime Officers