US-flag shipping wants new President Joe Biden to step up to bolster the industry, beginning with getting US mariners priority Covid-19 care.
Among the top things industry figures told members of a House of Representatives subcommittee covering shipping the Biden administration could do was moving mariners up the queue for vaccination against the respiratory illness.
"Most importantly, we are asking that American mariners and cadets working aboard US-flagged vessels be given expedited access to the Covid-19 vaccine," said USA Maritime president James Patti during a hearing on the pandemic and its effect on US shipping.
Patti, whose group includes shipping companies and labour unions involved in the US flag foreign trade, said fast-tracking vaccinations for Covid-19 would "protect America's economic and military security".
He added that vaccinations were especially important given that mariners work in multi-generational settings with limited medical care and the potential to be denied access to shore for treatment.
Patti was one of six speakers at the hearing, including Crowley Maritime senior vice president and American Maritime Partnership president Michael Roberts, Del Wilkins of Illinois Marine Towing and three representatives from ports groups.
The speakers were heard by the House's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.
It comes on the heels of Biden's executive order detailing his support for the Jones Act cabotage law and hopes his policy could support US shipping.
Patti and Roberts pitched the subcommittee on funding the Tanker Security Program which would provide a stipend to 10 ships to move fuel for the US military, bilateral cargo sharing agreements to create demand for US-flagged tonnage and tax incentives to encourage the use of US-flagged ships.
There are approximately 1,800 fewer US mariners than needed to support a prolonged US military engagement abroad and Roberts said the Tanker Security Program would provide jobs for 500 mariners.
"It's an incredibly important program," he said.
Patti said the Maritime Administration under the Biden administration should "be innovative" and work with Congress, the industry and the Department of Transportation.
"Look at new ways, or refresh the old ways, to increase the amount of cargo on US ships," he said.
Foreign advantages
The most scathing critique of the current state of the shipping industry and the US role in it came from Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat.
At the outset of the hearing, he said the US merchant marine has to compete with "countries that don't really exist, like Liberia", "virtual slave labour [and] poorly maintained ships".
He said the Jones Act, the law requiring ships moving cargo between US ports be flagged in the US, was critical to further competitiveness.
"As I've said to those particularly in the cruise industry, if you need help, call the Liberian navy. Oh, they don't have one," said DeFazio, referencing the Liberian ship registry, one of the three largest in the world and where some US-based companies flag their fleets.
"We simply have to rebuild our domestic fleet and the Jones Act is absolutely key to that. The president has already mentioned his strong support for the Jones Act, unlike the last one who didn't even know what it was. His feckless so-called economic advisor Larry Kudlow wanted to grant waivers or do away with the Jones Act.
"I think we're entering a building phase for America here, a rebuilding phase. We used to be a great maritime nation. We could be once again."
