Protect the American Maritime Industry and American Mariners
One of OMSA's chief missions is to "vigorously defend the cabotage laws of the United States", better known as the Jones Act. Right now the Jones Act is under attack! These Jones Act pages contains facts, web links, news articles, and explanations to help you learn about and understand the need for, the benefits of, and the importance of the Jones Act to the economic and energy security of the United States of America. Words on this page in red contain links to articles with additional details on that topic.
The Jones Act
The Jones Act is the best known of America's cabotage laws. It says very simply that merchandise can only be transported by water between points in the United States on vessels that have U.S. owners, U.S. crews and are built in U.S. shipyards. The law was passed 90 years ago as a way to ensure that America had a healthy maritime industry, well-trained, professional seafarers and a healthy, thriving shipbuilding industry. All of those elements were and are necessary for national defense, security and economic strength.
The Problem
Getting foreign vessels to comply with the law in the offshore energy sector and getting our government to enforce the law the way it was written are a problem, and that problem is growing!
Two years ago, OMSA launched an initiative to track foreign vessels and report violations to Customs and Border Protection, a part of the Department of Homeland Security responsible for enforcing the Jones Act and other cabotage laws. Your help is needed in this effort. To report a possible violation of the Jones Act in the offshore energy sector, i.e. if you see a foreign flag vessel carrying merchandise between a US port and an offshore platform, drilling site or other structure, send an email to Joe Kavanaugh, OMSA's Jones Act compliance officer, at Joe@offshoremarine.org or call 504.307.7651 with as much detail as you know. Tips will be kept in confidence and will be investigated by the OMSA staff before any formal complaint is filed.
Now opponents of the Jones Act are fighting hard to delay and even kill a Customs and Border Protection proposal to toughen the Jones Act. If they are successful, it will mean more foreign vessels in America's offshore energy sector and many of the jobs that might come from expanded offshore energy, whether it is wind or increased mineral exploration would go to foreign mariners. Click here for the CBP proposal and here for the current status.
American Vessels Help our Economy, Foreign Vessels Don't.
A study commissioned by OMSA shows that U.S. flag offshore support vessels, the shipyards that build them and related industries produce annual benefits of:
- 100,000 Jobs
- $18 billion in business sales
- $4.6 billion in wages
Those benefits don't happen if foreign vessels take over the offshore work. They don't build in America. They don't generally hire Americans. Now there are concerns that they aren't even paying taxes here. In October, the IRS issued a notice saying it was investigating foreign vessels that were working in the offshore oil and gas sector and not filing U.S. tax returns.
How to Help
If after reading the facts in this web page, you want to help keep the Jones Act strong and vibrant, click here to contact OMSA and join the Jones Act Defense Team.
