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On-Line Archive From August 1999 |
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January 2003
On-Line Edition
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| Customs denies request for Jones Act waiver |
| U.S. agencies concur: port lockout did not create a need to suspend cabotage law |
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The U.S. Customs Service in December refused to waive the Jones Act for 90 days. The limited waiver had been requested twice by the National Industrial Transportation League, which said foreign-flag domestic ship services were necessary to help clear backlogged cargoes from West Coast docks. The congestion resulted from the 10-day lockout of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union by the Pacific Maritime Association in October 2002. Signed into law as Section 27 of the 1920 Merchant Marine Act, the Jones Act holds all U.S. point-to-point waterborne commerce for merchant vessels owned, built, flagged and manned in the U.S. Under a 1950 law, Customs can waive Jones Act requirements, but only at the request of the Secretary of Defense, and only in the interest of national security. Customs can also issue an administrative "non-enforcement order," which can have the same effect as a waiver, and which implies no penalty for Jones Act violations. |
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