Page 9: of Marine News Magazine (May 2026)

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Particularly at a time of heightened ed, multi-use waterways; and ensuring Incidental Discharge Act to ? nally risk of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, that important Coast Guard services create uniform standards for vessels the Jones Act serves as a security bul- such as mariner credentialing and in interstate commerce; take a risk- wark on our waterways by guarantee- vessel documentation that keep the based, practicable approach to imple- ing that it’s American mariners sup- Marine Transportation System run- mentation of new cybersecurity reg- porting the Coast Guard’s homeland ning are not held hostage to lengthy ulations; and build on positive steps security mission on our inland rivers, Department of Homeland Security to reform the mariner credentialing coastal routes, and Great Lakes. The funding lapses like what we have expe- process so that our essential work-

Coast Guard and other federal agen- rienced these past several months. force does not lose more mariners to cies are simply not resourced to pro- Alongside modernized physical frustration with bureaucratic inertia. tect against security threats from for- infrastructure and safe navigation The American people have always eign vessels and crews with unfettered routes, the stability and resilience been able to count on domestic mari- access to U.S. domestic waterways. of our domestic maritime supply time to keep our nation’s commerce

Put simply, this Jones Act waiver chain also depend on a regulatory moving, including in today’s unpre- throws open America’s maritime environment that encourages safety, dictable global environment. Now, borders to foreign vessels and crews ef? ciency, and innovation. To that more than ever, Americans need the and puts American workers last. It’s end, the Coast Guard must priori- Trump Administration and Congress incompatible with the goal of restor- tize long overdue implementation to support the policies that make this ing American maritime dominance of regulations required by the Vessel vital work possible. and ignores the targeted, case-by- case waiver process provided by cur- rent law when genuine transportation needs cannot be met by American ves- sels. This gut punch to American mar- iners should be reversed immediately.

Another critical policy choice to be made to keep American commerce ? owing is continued investment in the safety and ef? ciency of our waterways system. This not only means providing robust funding for locks, dams, dredg- ing and Coast Guard buoy tenders to prevent congestion in our rivers and harbors – it also means encouraging sensible permitting reform to enable more ef? cient infrastructure develop- ment; continuously building on the strong cooperative framework be- tween industry, the Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to manage high and low water conditions on our inland river system; establish- ing coastal navigation safety fairways to ensure safe vessel transits in crowd- www.marinelink.com MN 9|