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NitLeague Expected To Enter Jones Act Debate
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| Trade Association Will Assess Statute, Establish Position | |||
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The National Industrial Transportation League is expected to enter the Jones Act political fray this year. The NitLeague--the nation's largest trade association of foreign and domestic shippers--has not adopted a formal position in the debate that has focused on the 1920 cabotage law since April 1995, when the Jones Act Reform Coalition surfaced in Washington, DC. U.S. and multinational grain, oil, chemical and mining interests in the JARC want to force roll-back or repeal of the statute, which holds domestic waterborne commerce for vessels owned, built, documented and crewed in the U.S. But NitLeague President Ed Emmett told a reporter Dec. 17 that the group will assess the law and its impact on domestic freight. "Shippers are always going to come down on the side of ... as many alternatives available as possible," Emmett told The 'Journal Of Commerce'. The JARC has generated four separate Jones Act repeal bills in the House and Senate, but all have lapsed with little or no official attention. In a tactical shift in 1998, the coalition urged repeal of the law's "build American" mandate in the deep-sea and Great Lakes bulk cargo trades, a proposal pending for nearly a year in the Senate under legislation introduced by Kansas Republican Sam Brownback. Senate leaders in both parties are opposed to legislation that would weaken or repeal the Jones Act, and a strong bipartisan House majority is on record in support of the law. The Two House committees with immediate sequential jurisdiction over cabotage issues--Transportation and Infrastructure and Armed Services--have essentially ruled out Jones Act repeal or amendment. "We have a lot of support in the 106th Congress," said AMO National President Michael R. McKay. "However, the NitLeague is an influential organization, and some of its member companies could prove sympathetic to the Jones Act repeal movement. We'll watch this development closely." | |||
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