A PDF copy of this statement is available HERE
Based on overwhelming evidence that waiving the Jones Act has failed to deliver meaningful benefits to American consumers or workers, the Seafarers International Union is deeply disappointed by the administration’s decision to extend the waiver yet again.
The original waiver and now two extensions, unprecedented in their length, have handed American maritime work to foreign-owned, foreign-flagged and foreign-crewed vessels operating in America’s domestic trades. To date, roughly 200 domestic voyages have been surrendered to foreign vessels, even adversaries – voyages that should have employed American mariners aboard American ships.
And for what?
Anyone filling up their vehicle knows the waiver has failed to deliver its promised relief. According to an August 17 report from the American Maritime Partnership, the national average price of gasoline topped $4.00 per gallon for the third time this year and reached its highest level ever recorded this late in the year.
American mariners lost work. American operators lost cargo. American consumers saw no meaningful relief.
Meanwhile, the prolonged waiver has injected uncertainty into the U.S. maritime industry and chilled the very investment in American-flagged ships, mariners and shipbuilding that our nation desperately needs.
This latest extension does include improvements – on paper. Requiring case-by-case review before foreign vessels are permitted to carry domestic commerce is preferable to another blanket waiver, and reducing the number of covered products is a step in the right direction.
But an ineffective policy does not become effective simply by narrowing it. Tripling down on a waiver that has failed to lower prices only prolongs the damage while continuing to reward oil traders and foreign-flag shipowners at the expense of American mariners and the U.S.-flag maritime industry.
The Jones Act is the foundation of American maritime strength. For more than a century, it has protected our national, economic and homeland security. It supports more than 650,000 American jobs and contributes billions of dollars to our economy every year. Just as importantly, it ensures that America maintains the ships, mariners and maritime infrastructure our nation can depend on in times of peace, crisis and war.
The Jones Act is America First in action.
American cargo should move on American ships, crewed by American mariners. The administration should end this experiment with waivers and give the Jones Act – and the Americans whose livelihoods depend on it – its full and unequivocal support.