Page 93: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 1998)

U.S. MARITIME REPORT

JTones Act Debate Heats Up In Senate Hearings

Industry Leaders Debate Jones Act

The Jones Act debate in the Senate last month brought together a col- lection of debators, both new and old, who testified on the merits of keeping the Jones Act intact or dropping the "Build in the U.S." stipula- tion. Some who appeared to give testimony include (pictured from left to right): Thomas A. Danjczek, president of the Steel Manufacturers

Association; Clyde J. Hart Jr., the DOT's new Maritime

Administrator; and Thomas A. Allegretti, president of the American

Waterways Operators. (Continued from page 85) the transportation needs of the

North Carolina livestock farmers,

Jones Act vessel operators expressed interest in pursuing this business....At least four coastal

U.S. vessel operators have directly approached Murphy Family Farms to express interest in learning more about their transportation needs and submitting proposals to meet those needs."

Mr. Allegretti went on to point out that logic surrounding opposi- tion to the Jones Act is sometimes fuzzy at best. He points out that revolutionary changes in the last 30 years have dramatically altered the U.S. domestic fleet, particular- ly with the emergence of non-self- propelled vessels (barges) as the vessel of choice in many corners of the domestic fleet. He claims that between 1965 and 1995, the num- ber of barges of equivalent or greater capacity to the oceangoing vessels of 1,000-gt or larger leaped from 438 to 1,703. "Jones Act crit- ics inexplicably seek a merchant fleet of yesteryear, and when they can't find it, claim its absence is an example of the act's failure," Mr.

Allegretti said.

Donald "Boysie" Bollinger,

Chairman and CEO of Bollinger

Shipyards, Inc. concurs on many of

Mr. Allegretti's points. In his tes- timony, Mr. Bollinger said "We hear much about the declining number of large U.S.-flag ships from those who support Jones Act repeal. Statements such as this show a lack of understanding of the changing face of America's domestic fleet. U.S.-flag operators have moved ... to intermodal barge transports, tug-barge technologies,

RoRo barges and other ocean going barges."

Counterpoint

While the pro-Jones Act contin- gency presented its case forcefully, and included the voice of new

Maritime Administrator Clyde J.

Hart Jr., the anti-Jones Act con- tingency presented interesting information as well. Rob

Quartel, the former member of the U.S. Federal Maritime

Commission and current president of the Jones Act Reform Coalition argued that "sadly, what little domestic fleet the United States has left — some 114 self-propelled vessels over 1,000 tons — is the oldest and least modern in the industrialized world," citing the fleet's average age of 23 years.

Quartel reasons that the new bill eliminating the U.S.-build require- ment would be "good for consumers because it would increase the sup- ply of deepwater ships, provide additional capacity in the rail and truck system and reduce prices for intermodal transportation across the board. He also maintains that it is simply too costly to build com-

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October, 1998 93