Statement from David Heindel, President, Maritime Trades Department
The Maritime Trades Department strongly opposes any extension of the Jones Act waiver.
The Administration justified the waiver as a temporary measure to increase petroleum supplies and lower fuel prices for American consumers. Months later, there is no credible evidence that the waiver has achieved its stated objective. Gasoline and petroleum prices have continued to fluctuate based on global market conditions, not because foreign-flag vessels were permitted to move cargo between U.S. ports.
What the waiver has accomplished is the transfer of American jobs and domestic cargoes to foreign ships employing low-wage crews operating under Flags of Convenience. It has also created a windfall for refiners, oil traders, and foreign vessel operators, while sidelining American mariners and U.S.-flag vessels that stand ready and able to perform this work.
The Jones Act is not an obstacle to affordable energy. It is a cornerstone of our nation’s economic and national security. It sustains the skilled American workforce, ships, and maritime infrastructure that our military depends upon during times of war, national emergencies, and humanitarian crises. Undermining that capability for a policy that has failed to deliver meaningful benefits to consumers is both shortsighted and counterproductive.
If the Administration’s goal is to reduce costs for American families, it should pursue policies that directly address market conditions—not continue a waiver that has enriched foreign shipping interests, including Chinese- and Russian-owned vessels, at the expense of American workers and our domestic maritime industry.
The time has come to allow the waiver to expire and restore the Jones Act protections that have served our nation for more than a century.
The only thing this waiver has lowered is the amount of work available for American mariners. It has been a bonanza for foreign shipping interests and energy traders—not for the American consumer. It’s time to end the waiver and put American workers first.