Panel: Advocates for Jones Act Reform See Best Chance in Decades
Hurricane Maria’s trail of destruction in Puerto Rico and the arrival of a new administration may provide the impetus to overhaul a century-old federal law restricting the movement of cargo between U.S. ports to vessels that are American-built, crewed, and owned and operated vessels, a panel of maritime experts said Friday.
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The energy market is an example of the volatility of global trading, the changing trade routes to supply immediate demand and using foreign vessels for exploration and production. Jonathan Waldron, a partner at Blank Rome law firm, said the American offshore energy industry is heavily dependent on foreign-built and -operated vessels for drilling and pipe-laying, as well as transporting product. He added it is also subjected to at times inconsistent enforcement practices as to what is acceptable and what is not by Customs and Border Protection agents “in how you operate off-shore.”
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"Panel: Advocates for Jones Act Reform See Best Chance in Decades," by John Grady was published in U.S. Naval Institute News on February 23, 2018.