Jones act

[CaptTimD]

It is sad that John McCain, an American hero, is anti-American. Having recently retired from many years on the Lakes I am amazed that we pass a myriad of laws governing shipping, labor, banking, benefits, etc, etc, etc and then the politicians who passed those laws work to find a way around them. The Jones Act is one of those laws. If we allow foreign shipping into US Domestic trade who are they then competing with? American railroads and trucks and American workers. Will they have to meet our standards? Will they pay our taxes and abide by our labor laws? Will they contribute on a greater scale than just monetarily to the good of the nation; such as in the US neighborhoods where sailors live? Probably not. When are we going to import the Third World labor to drive the trucks and trains so those companies are not negatively impacted by cheaper competition from the non-domestic workers who are not held to all of our standards? Where does this stop? When did earning an American wage become a bad thing that needs to be replaced with cheaper? When are the big investors taking a cut to improve efficiency and competitiveness? Dear John, why pass all those laws if they make us uncompetitive on the world stage? I don't think they do but if they do why punish our people, who by the way make America great and pay for you and all the programs you folks in DC can come up with? This is a load of lies foisted on us by slick unscrupulous businessmen, who may be foreign, in the search for greater short term profits at the cost of all else.

Frankly my answer for a long time since we had all this NAFTA, CAFTA, and other outsourcing of everything is that we should outsource Congress to India. We'd end up with better governance at a far cheaper price and they'd be much more responsive since if they didn't work out well we could go with the Chinese.

[Jared]

How many ships do we build a year for commercial purposes? I know we have not built a new laker since the late 80's. It seems the only things we build are warships, barges, and tugs.

[Dave F]

It saddens me that the American and Canadian shipping and shipbuilding industries appear to be unwilling and/or unable to compete on the world market. Canada had an exorbitant 25% tariff on foreign built ships and companies like CSL and Algoma appeared to simply wait until that tariff was lifted and now they are buying all their ships in China. Evidently the Canadian builders still were not offering a product that shipowners were willing to purchase while the tariff was in effect. Please understand, I am not against the Jones act and I am not anti-union. I merely suggest that our shipping and shipbuilding industries would be much larger and healthier with a lot more jobs if we were able to compete against foreign builders.

[Don_Detloff]

McCain is an old fool that should have been voted out of office years ago.

[Laker Mate]

"If it wasn't McCain it would be another member of the GOP?" I don't think so. John McCain is the ONLY politician, on either side of the isle, to have such a problem with the Jones Act. Nobody other than him tries this kind of thing. Anytime he has proposed anti Jones Act legislation in the past it gets slapped down by a majority from both parties. He is now reduced to trying to slip it into other bills as what he is trying to do cannot hold up to any sort of debate. Without question this quest of his is driven by campaign donors of his who don't like the Jones Act.

[Middle rouge]

I have to wonder how a man from AZ knows so much about the economics of Great Lakes shipping! Obviously he knows nothing or we wouldn't be facing this threat.

Senator McCain has tried to repeal the jones act before. His main argument is that ships on trade routes from the lower 48 to the states of Hawaii, Alaska, and us territories such as Guam, Peurto Rico, and American Samoa are Really old.

Horizon lines, which operates several container ships, including the 3 built by bay-ship in the early '80s, has an average vessel age of 35 years. Last I checked, they are still operating 2 ships built as general cargo ships in the Vietnam era that were converted to containerships in the late '80s.

Most US flagged ships involved in deep water trade are also steam powered

I should also note that a majority of Jones Act compliant general cargo or container ships built within the last 30 years were sold and reflagged before most were even 10 years old.

I should also note that the American shipbuilding industry supports 100,000 jobs directly, and indirectly supports about another 400,000 jobs. Those roughly half million jobs have a net income of about $25 billion, as well as a gross domestic product of $36 billion.

Remember title IX of the Merchant Marine Act of 1970? The bill that killed a lot of older ships, but gave shipbuilding in America a huge boost? Although it was passed a quarter century before my time, I think something similar would help these shipping lines, like horizon lines, replace ships and preform much need upgrades to other ships.

Again, please contact your senators, and be sure to point out these numbers. Jobs depend on it.
Once again, thank you

[Chet]

Sounds like another manufactured "crisis" that must be corrected to ease the suffering of the wealthy. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that a lot of the jobs protected by the Jones Act are union jobs. People may disagree about unions, but as someone once said, no one ever complained about being paid union scale. Getting rid of the Jones Act would advance the agenda of getting rid of unions in this country.

[Darryl]

Thanks gCaptain for the strong explanation in today's New Section about what many of these elected officials are up to in trying to disband the Jones Act. Hopefully, the maritime industry and those understanding the issues fully, will again mount a defense of something so vital to the majority of working people. McCain and his cronies were also almost successful in sending a 200 tanker airplane order to the Europeans over an American built plane.

[Guest 5464]

I have to wonder how a man from AZ knows so much about the economics of Great Lakes shipping! Obviously he knows nothing or we wouldn't be facing this threat.

[old sailer]

As a Canadian I would hope that my American friends would not repeal their jones act. Just imagine losing all your shipyards and trades people who work at them either building or repairing. All you have to do is look north of your border to see what's happening in the shipping industry. In Canada a lot of shipyards are gone and with goes all the skills to build ships. In Canada what's next , could it be temporary foreign workers to operate all these new builds from China. America stay with your Jones act and protect your jobs.

[XSailor]

If it wasn't McCain it would be some other member of the GOP as they have tried everything to send jobs offshore.

[Nighthunter]

Looks like McCain works for China!! The Jones Act protects American jobs, water pollution, illegal aliens on ships (possible terrorist as ship workers), increase is ship problems (grounding, collisions, etc.)
we have the best crews on these ships in the world, let's not screw this up. (but too few men on aboard in this era). Someone should talk to the Captains and Chiefs who work under the existing conditions, I only touched the surface.

[Ray]

In response to RCRV's question, the Jones Act requires that any vessel hauling cargo or passengers between 2 American ports must be built in the US, registered in the US, and have an American Crew. THe Act is why you don't have Liberian registered oreboats running between Duluth and Zug Island. It is why any oil tankers operating between Alaska and west coast ports must be US flagged/crewed. It's also why any non-American Alaskan cruise ship departs out of Vancouver B.C. instead of Seattle. Repeal the act and there is no reason to maintain a US great lakes fleet, simply contract out cargo hauling to the lowest bidder regardless of whatever unregulated craphole the ship is registered/crewed out of.

Although perhaps less of an issue now then at the time it was passed, removal of the JOnes Act also potentially puts us at the mercy of other nation's merchant fleets in times of war/crisis.

[wlbblw]

Look no further than the recent Canadian lakers being built in China & the closure of Port Weller Dry docks to see what repealing the Jones Act will do for the US.

[Guest]

In one of the recent articles I read, McCain said the Jones Act was costing the American consumer an estimated one billion a year. He said nothing about the billions of dollars in wages repealing the Jones act would cost America. American mariners, shipyards, maintenance personnel, ect, ect, ect. With the United States population around 400 Million, his argument against the Jones act is, it is costing Americans about $2.50 per person a year. He makes no mention of the fact that his donors would save billions of dollars every year, of which the American economy would see almost none of. And the money that would still be spent on wages, ship building, maintenance, would all be sent overseas. I am not sure why, but on his issue, it sure seems like McCain hates America.

[RCRV]

Could someone explain more about the Jones act? Details about its affect on US shipping and ships and how this
"Senator john McCain has filed an amendment to the keystone xl pipeline that if passed, would repeal the US built requirements of the jones act. " would affect American shipping and ships.

[Middle rouge]

Hello everyone, I have some important news to pass along about an important senate vote next week from the superintendent of the Great Lakes maritime academy which was posted on the "fans of know your ships" page on Facebook.

Senator john McCain has filed an amendment to the keystone xl pipeline that if passed, would repeal the US built requirements of the jones act.

Mr McCain has tried to do this before, with no success. He is trying to repeal this because most US flagged saltwater vessel involved in trades between the lower 48 and Alaska/Hawaii, or oversea territories are ancient, most dating to the early 1960s'

Do you still want to see your favorite ships floating? Do you want to help save american jobs?
Please write to your senator ASAP. Thank you