Right now, I work as a tech rep for a marine services company and my job takes me to a lot of foreign flag ships. My biggest headaches fly a Chinese (PRC) flag. The staff is almost all mainland Chinese, and the English is generally extremely poor, I am talking about all of the officers save for the Master (and not much better). It’s so bad I have to re-translate my handouts with Google Translate and hope I don’t offend someone or piss them off (no, my company isn’t much help, even with offices in Shanghai!) Anyway, if Jones Act rules are relaxed to the point many politicians on both sides of the isle want, then you will see far more of these guys in our ports and up and down the rivers, and the result won’t be good.
Nothing personal against these seafarers, but I don’t like it from both a labor and a safety standpoint, especially if they are able to win contracts for carriage of goods between US ports. Bad juju.