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Maritime Administrator Mark Buzby
. Additional coverage will be posted later this week.
The head of the U.S. Maritime Administration recently underscored his support of America’s freight cabotage law.
Maritime Administrator Mark Buzby delivered keynote remarks Sept. 20 in Baltimore as Seafarers-contracted American Roll-on Roll-off Carrier (ARC) formally welcomed three vessels into U.S. registry. Those ships (ARC Integrity, ARC Resolve and ARC Independence) are enrolling in the U.S. Maritime Security Program.
While most of Buzby’s remarks focused on the new ships and the industry as a whole, he also fervently spoke about the Jones Act. The time-tested law supports more than 650,000 American jobs and is widely considered essential to U.S. national, economic and homeland security.
“I can’t stand here this morning without mentioning the Jones Act and its vital importance to the health of the maritime industry and our national security,” Buzby stated. “There have been many op-eds written lately – much of them slanted and based on long-ago-debunked falsehoods. Let me be very clear: The Jones Act is the fundamental cornerstone of our nation’s maritime policy. It has been for the past 99 years. Without it, our domestic maritime industry – afloat and ashore – would fold. You need only ask folks in Australia how things are going there after they repealed their version of the Jones Act. I, for one, do not want to see our national internal maritime logistics chain the jobs that go with it, (given) to a foreign power. Not on my watch.”
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