b'2American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comThe Jones ActAdriftJONES ACT 2025in a sea of controversy The Jones Act has been controversial since inception in 1920. By George Lauriat, AJOTS ection27 Section27oftheMer- marineactivitiesunderan chant Marine Act 1920, betterumbrellalegislativeeffort. knownastheJonesAct,aThebroadembracesowing monikerderivedfromthethe seeds of future disputes.name of the leading sponsor,Therationaleforthe RepublicanSenatorWesleyJonesActiswelldocu-Jones of Washington State, ismented.WhentheUS the primary legislation regu- entered World War 1 in 1917, lating US vessels operating onthe nation quickly discovered domestic voyages essen- thatitdidnthavetheships tiallypassagescoastwise,necessarytoprovidethe inland and on the Great Lakescapacitytotransporttroops, but also including states andequipment and supplies along territorieslikeHawaiiandwithessentialrawmaterials AlaskaalongwithPuertoto support the war effort. This Rico and the Pacific island of(ADRIFTcontinued onEnstructure Auto Logistics recently announced new agreements with Mazda North America and Toyota Logistics Guam. While codifying somepage 4) Services (TLS) to provide finished vehicle logistics at the JAXPORT Talleyrand Marine Terminal.prettycommonplacemari-timeprincipleslikeAmeri-can flag ships are exclusivelyEXPERT LOGISTICS to operate in the carriage of freightbetweenUSports[a concept known as cabotage],ON DEMANDthisoveracenturyoldstat-utehasperiodicallysparked bittercontroversyovera broad spectrum of businessesANYWHERE. ANYTIME. ON TIME. and regions. Discussions on the value toAmericaoftheActare oftenpolarizing.Andthe viewsontheJonesActs importancetotheUSecon-omy are frequently at odds.Does the administrations AmericaFirstrequirethe Jones Act as Jennifer Carpen-ter,PresidentofDC-based AmericanMaritimePartner-ship(AMP),contends.Or istheJonesActAmerican industrial protectionism at its crummiest as Joe Lantow and DavidWorkingofZachary-Scott, a Seattle-headquartered mergerandacquisitionfirm argues.OristheJonesAct something else altogether?Jennifer Carpenter, President of American Maritime PartnershipWe are now immersed in oneofthoseperiodsasthe UnitedStatesattemptsonce again to redefine its maritime mission and the Jones Act has come to the fore. c abotage andb eyond F raming thea ctWhilemanyfeaturesofCONTACT UScabotagehaveliterallybeen around from the very begin- 1000 Foust Road Brownsville, TX 78521ning of the nation, the goal of+1 (956) 831-4592the Jones Act was far broaderwww.portofbrownsville.com in a sense, to pull together allthefacetsofmerchant'