Jones Act waiver for foreign built container ships proposed by feeder lines operator
American Feeder Lines is seeking a statutory waiver of the Jones Act, as part of a pilot program to implement a “marine highway” coastwise container feeder ship service. As part of the plan, AFL plans to replace these ships with US built vessels. But the long running Jones Act, is among the most of sacrosanct US maritime legislation, and waivers rare. Could this be the exception to the rule?
By Stas Margaronis, AJOT
Legislation will soon be sought in Congress to ask for a statutory wavier of the Jones Act, enabling four foreign built container ships to operate in US coastal trades.
A Washington, DC consultant, who asked not to be identified, says he is assisting American Feeder Lines (AFL) in obtaining a waiver for four foreign-built container feeder ships to operate in the US domestic trade and says “a member of Congress will introduce legislation” to allow the company to bring in the ships. The consultant said officials at the US Department of Transportation (DOT) are aware of the proposal.
On November 1st, American Feeder Lines, based in New York, issued a statement saying that it is seeking a Jones Act waiver “where a small number of foreign built vessels would be permitted to engage in coastwise trade as part of a pilot program.” AFL says it wants to demonstrate the viability of marine highway shipping with the idea that future ships would be built in the United States and replace the foreign built vessels.
In response to the news of a possible waiver, Matthew Paxton, president of the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA), told the AJOT SCA believes the rationale to waive the Jones Act for the four foreign-built container ships is to be a one time demonstration project for the viability of short sea shipping, also known as Marine highway shipping. “While we support short sea shipping and want to build new vessels for this energy efficient mode of transportation, we do not want to see the Jones Act undermined in anyway and we will scrutinize this proposal very carefully to make sure that does not happen.”