For comparison does anyone know what happens when a US island not subject to the Jones Act gets hit with a hurricane? =I don’t think I’ve ever seen either side of this argument compare PR’s relief strategy/abilities to the US Virgin Islands
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People might support a law requiring foreign ships to pay higher wages during the time that they are in U.S. ports or waters.
People might demand fewer Jones Act waivers and fewer B1-OCS visas.
Foreign seamen who want to work can find other jobs ashore or afloat.
Fortunately, the Jones Act will endure for another 100 years in spite of the egregious lies the anti-Jones Act zealots spread about it.
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There’s no need to go that far. It’s just a matter of determining if the tanks in the ports have sufficient supply of diesel to meet demand. It’s been reported there’s sufficient supplies of diesel at the ports.
If diesel deliveries are blocked because of roads and bridges being washed out or blocked adding more tankers isn’t going to matter.
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So if I drive around my neighborhood with a Canadian truck full of ice cream and get mad because I don’t have an ice-cream importing and selling permit, I could complain that the people WANT ice-cream and the man is holding me down and not letting me sell any.
Never mind all the local stores and the local ice cream truck guy have plenty, there is no shortage, and there is plenty more on the way in the trucks that usually deliver it.
Also note almost no one cares where the gas station gets their gas as long as they have it, unless some stations run out and can’t get more the people of PR couldn’t care less about the BP tanker.
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I fully support measures to make it easier for Canadians to sell ice cream in the United States. If there was a hot summer day and I wanted ice cream and a Canadian truck drove by full of ice cream then I should be able to buy it.
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Oh FFS…in this tourtured metaphor you are already sitting at a local ice cream store stocked with ice cream supplied by their regular ice cream supplier, but you are demanding instead to buy from some truck 100 miles away with the exact same product!! For no apparent reason other than you hate the current ice cream supply chain that is currently functioning properly. That is the opposite of logic!
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In that case, the Canadian company will lose a bundle of money as they’d be wasting their time and gas trying to sell something no one wants.
Indeed. Though forgive me if I feel zero sympathy for a foreign company losing money because they chose to take a gamble on suffering Americans and lost.
In this same amount of time that ship has been idle BP could have consigned a load of fuel from a compliant port or chartered/routed a compliant ship. They chose not to, and in its place the people who wanted fuel, who needed fuel, were getting it from compliant ships.
So honestly who gives a shit if one of the largest oil companies in the world doesn’t make a quick profit through a storm waiver today. Cause that’s all this is at the end of the day.
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??? “Go that far”? Why are you downplaying just asking the question? Maybe St. Thomas gets good enough support during hurricanes with foreign ships carrying cargo from Florida. Maybe they suffer even more than PR. Why not find out? Someone’s got to know how St. Thomas fares in these events
I’ll play devil’s advocate here, mostly because I continually read references on this forum to Puerto Rico being “third-world” and the population are “peasants”. Have some maturity and respect. I have ties to PR through business and this hurricane heavily damaged parts of the island, some people are still without power. That’s related to the power company which took over when the government privatized the power grid. Some power plants are still offline from storm damage. There is a shortage of diesel fuel on the island. I say this with confirmation as I spoke with a vendor today in San Juan and he lost a lot of inventory because his warehouse still has no power and now he ran out of diesel for the generator.
I do not see anyone on here volunteering to help citizens of the island - those with no house now, no car, maybe no way to get to/from home because the roads are washed out. Stories like this recent Jones Act waiver are eaten up by the general public because they have no concept of the law, only being told it results in higher prices and limited options. And that’s partially true to a limited extent. What is the typical reply from the maritime industry? The military sealift aspect is always mentioned, but the general public does not know this nor do they care. Should we say the JA provides good paying jobs? Maybe for senior officers on a large commercial ship it’s true, but how much sympathy would the public have when they learn a Captain earns $200K+ on an average US flag tanker? Whether that pay is deserved is no question from me, but imagine how the public would take this. The idea US mariners are paid a “living wage” and foreign sailors are not is utter rubbish…it is an apples to oranges comparison that never touches on where those foreign sailors live and average cost of living. The people who make these comments usually follow up with other derogatory libel, how those crews eat “fish heads and rice” or earn a dollar a day. Someone commented about foreign sailors could be paid more when in US ports…again, absolutely unrelated to the JA and of course those higher salaries would ultimately be passed on to the consumer. And then some smart person would propose to tax those foreign sailors on wages earned in US ports.
In the end it’s an uphill battle defending the Jones Act but there is an active community supporting us in this regard which is essential. And the goal is not to necessarily convince the public, or rather the more effective route is to convince congress. Every time I read a rebuttal which focuses on the military readiness aspect, I shake my head as it’s like talking to a wall. The general public just doesn’t care. This could delve into a political opinion so I’ll leave it at that, but there needs to be a more relatable and human response. Beautiful reports on how much a shipyard contributes to a local or regional economy only matters to that local economy - the rest of the country doesn’t care.
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It was smart politics for Biden’s handlers to buy votes by granting the “temporary and targeted” Jones Act waiver.
It’s good for us too because it shows the flexibility available under the Jones Act to respond to emergencies. It neuters the anti-Jones Act zealots.
I misunderstood your post, I was referring strictly to the question regarding the reported shortage of diesel on the island. According to reports there’s no shortage of diesel at the oil terminals on the island.
Generators on the island may be running out but supply problems downstream from the ports won’t be solved by a single Marshall Island flagged tanker.
There was a more comprehensive study done by the GAO back in 2018. I posted about it here.
From gcaptain yesterday:
At each and every meeting, I have been assured by federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, FEMA and the Corps of Engineers that there is an adequate supply of fuel on the Island that is available to consumers and that subsequent delivery is planned of more fuel in the short, medium and long term.
As recently as [yesterday], FEMA held a conference call at 2 p.m. to members of Congress to offer an update on the agency’s efforts, reiterating again that there is “a considerable supply of fuel available on the Island.”
Not seeing the tanker GH Parks at the AIS site MarineTraffic. Last report was 15 hours ago.
Watching all the news reports of the damage in Puerto Rico reminded me of hurricane Hugo back in 1989 where the majority of the island suffered the loss of power and water. We entered San Juan the morning after to an eerie silence as nothing much was moving. We scrounged up all the welding cable we could find to power the terminal and run the cranes using ships power. That’s how the containers were discharged. We gave water and anything else we could to help. When we are finished the setup was left for the next ship to use. I think it took a month before the SeaLand terminal got power fully restored.
The point being, if there isn’t power not much is going to get done or move.
Unfortunately for Puerto Rico, hurricane Hugo regained strength and subsequently slammed into the East Coast. The country’s attention quickly swung away from the damage done in the Caribbean.
I care that in 2021 to date, over $100 Billion of American tax money has gone to support a corrupt welfare colony. That amount is about equal to the annual income of every resident (about $20K) and look what the island has to show for it. Where did that money go? They can afford to pay a few pennies more for their welfare fuel.
That is because we have involuntary volunteerism, $100B of our taxes going down a hole into the collapsing vestige of a failed war prize.
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think GH Parks on the berth at Guayanilla
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Something to think about - 100,000,000 gallons of diesel at the port helps you not at all if the road to your local gas station is washed out and there is no power to run the pumps. I suspect any fuel shortages that are going on are distribution issues, not supply issues.
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When I was in school with a Spaniard I jokingly mentioned the USA won the Spanish American war. He laughed and said Yep you got Puerto Rico, Philippines and Guam. How did that work out and how much has that cost you. Define winning.
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It’s just Colin spouting his lies again. At least Cato has finally paid their internet bill.
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Corruption in Latam is not a new issue nor will it be eradicated in our lifetime. It’s a way of everyday life and affects every person. Things are changing but not soon enough. But the public is cursed with the mindset of “this is how is has always been” so they give up on any major reforms to clean up the system. I won’t address your comments about welfare as they are derogatory swill. Where has money gone to in PR? Politicians and other insiders, certainly not down the proverbial pipeline to average citizens. Look at the disaster created by LUMA taking over the power grid. We could discuss the capital gains tax issue causing mainland corporations to buy land and houses without much defense available to the owners, but that’s another topic outside the relevance of this topic or forum in general.