Let me introduce myself. I am an American professional mariner and have decided that the time has come to start what I hope will be a movement by fellow professional mariners in the US to take back our legal right to man and operate ships in the Gulf of Mexico which are today being crewed by the nationals of many different countries. This trend has been accelerating since the late part of 2005 when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita carved a wide swath of destruction to the production infrastructure in the Gulf. Under pressure by both major oil producers and service companies, many foreign built, flagged and manned specialized service craft such as saturation diving and subsea construction vessels entered the industry in the Gulf to facilitate bringing production back online. What was supposed to be a temporary measure of expediency has turned into a permanent means of circumventing both established US Statutes and Federal Regulations which now are allowing these same foreign vessels quasi permanent status to remain in the Gulf and to operate with their foreign nation crews.
The USCG and US Customs is complicit in allowing this situation to occur by granting of waivers to the owners and charterers of these vessels on the flimsiest of evidence presented that there are no US citizen mariners available to operate these vessels. This is a lie that the Federal Government is buying into and unless the voice of mariners such as myself is heard then these violations will continue unchecked. What is at stake are attractive high paying jobs for US mariners on in many cases nearly new high tech vessels.
In my posts to follow, I will list the various laws and regulations which are being purposely ignored, the companies who own and charter the vessels in question, show the vessels themselves (when they come into Port Fourchon) and give fellow American mariners ideas of how to bring about change. If enough of us can join together and bring this situation into the light so it can be seen by those in the Administration and the Congress who might be willing to make a fundamental shift in the policy followed by our government, then I believe we can succeed. At least that is my hope and the reason that I start this blog here today.
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Here a few regulations that are currently being violated:
1)US owned foreign flagged vessels are operating in the Gulf of Mexico with foreign national crews in direct violation of 33CFRpart141.15)
2)Foreign owned and flagged vessels are operating in the Gulf of Mexico without replacing foreign national crews with US nationals by determining that "right to effectively control" rests with the charterer, not the vessel owner. In direct violation of 33CFR141.5(c).
3)OCS-B1 visas are being issued to foreign nationals under the guise that there aren't any qualified American's available!
U.S. Cabotage statutes have repeatedly been under attack from all sides. Congress has shot down all initiatives to promulgate the dissection of the Jones Act protecting the US Maritime industry. With the elections approaching, we need to think before we vote.
We have received support from every president for the last three decades as shown below. Do you know where McCain and Obama stand?
President George W. Bush, 2004
“The United States needs a maritime policy tailored to 21st century needs. Programs that have contributed to the growth of our domestic fleet, such as the Jones Act ... should be maintained.”
President William J. Clinton, 1997
“My Administration ... continues to support the Jones Act as essential to the maintenance of the nation's commercial and defense maritime interests.”
President George Bush, 1989
“Sealift is essential to both executing this country’s forward defense strategy and to maintaining a wartime economy... . [T]he U.S.-owned commercial ocean carrier industry ... will be relied upon to provide sealift in peace, crisis and war.”
President Ronald Reagan, 1980
“I can assure you that a Reagan Administration will not support legislation that would jeopardize this long-standing policy ... embodied in the Jones Act ... or the jobs dependent on it.”
Sen. Barack Obama
“The Jones Act is a vital part of our national defense and supports American workers. As President, I would fully enforce it. The Jones Act should be waived only under rare circumstances. I spoke out when the Bush Administration ignored the Passenger Vessel Services Act, which applies Jones Act requirements to cruise, ferry and excursion vessels, and contracted Carnival Cruise Lines, a foreign-owned company, to house evacuees from hurricane Katrina. Not only did they earn a higher-than-normal profit, but they violated Federal law in doing so. As is required by law, I will only waive the Jones Act when necessitated by national security.
“Furthermore, maintaining the American merchant marine fleet is vital to our economy and national security. I would oppose any move to undermine this Act.” (2008)
Sen. John McCain
“I would like to see the Jones Act repealed, but I don’t think that’s likely. I don’t think I would get twenty votes if I were to bring it to the floor.” (1997)
“While [we] could argue about the magnitude of the cost [of the Jones Act], there is no doubt that the Jones Act adds costs to U.S. shippers, especially in areas where water transportation is the only economical shipping option, such as Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico.” (1998)
“It appears that the Jones Act has a negative economic impact on American consumers, but more information is needed to accurately assess the magnitude of this impact, the national security value of the Jones Act, and the effects of various reform proposals.” (1998)
Wake up ...
You work in one of the only protected Marine Industries in the developed world, we expect protectionism from 3rd world countries but not from the great and the good.
Open your doors, learn to compete and for sure you will improve. We allow your ships and your people in our waters.
Stop your bloody whining and wake up to the wide world that surrounds you before your Chinese Masters wake you up.
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