Enlighten us as to the great things he’s done for the USMM. Maybe you can start with his appointment of the daughter of a FOC shipper as Transportation Secretary. Or you can start with how steel and aluminum tariffs are going to make American ships far more expensive to build. Or you can discuss how he reneged on his support for the FFP program.
So many choices!
It’s such a shame. Trump has turned back all the advances in 2 years that obama made in 8 for the USMM…And to top it off, my investment portfolio grew so fast, I was forced to take a less aggressive approach on my investments. IMPEACH 45!!!
Reeeeeeeeeee!
I agree with many things you generally post and always look forward to your presence but don’t quite understand the logic in your statement. American (Jones Act) ships must be made with domestic steel unless you are inferring the greater demand of US made steel will cause an increase in its price.
This one of those times you are exactly correct
Shipbuilding steel can be imported as long as it has not been “processed” in any manner. (I.e. bent or shaped etc.)
In any case; when imported steel becomes 25% more expensive domestic producers can increase their prices to “maximise profit and return for share holders”:
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/steel-prices-in-the-united-states-at-ten-year-high/
A 25% tariff would only inCrease prices by 25% assuming all steel used in the US is imported
Obviously, the US makes a lot of it’s own steel. The US has lots and lots of iron ore and metalegical coal.
Steel is less than 1% ofthe US economy.
The cost of steel is a small portion ofthe cost of most US made goods. It should not raise the price of most goods by more than a modest amount.
What’s happening now is just price gouging by steelmakers and steel importers. As more steel mills reopen and the market readjusts steel prices will come down. Jus give it a little time to settle out.
Taxes must becllected to run government programs. The tax money must come from somewhere. Better or it to come from tariffs than higher income taxes.
There is one more ingedience needed to make usable steel; Ferro-Alloys:
I don’t know if US is self-sufficient in Ferro-Alloys as well?
You are right of course. Tariffs are paid by the importer, not the exporter and as such is a form of tax on the end users. (you and me)
Does anyone know roughly how many people MARAD employs directly? How many of those employees have sea time? Could they start hiring sailors and require people to keep up their MMC as a condition of employment to support the industry?
How about the Federal Maritime Commission? Start putting seatime into the jobs at these agencies and that would help buoy our industry.
This rather beggars the question of once we get them out on the ships or boats, what in the world would we DO with them?
Back in the day,(they still might have it), Hornbeck required all of its office staff to ride their boats for a week every year. Not DOING anything, mind you, just human ballast.
You should have read the butthurt whining about it on GlassDoor! You’d have thought they’d have been shanghaied to be galley slaves.
Every vessel I’ve sailed with the Wise Men of MarAd and Transcom aboard, they’ve been coffee suckers just taking up space.
Whenever I’ve been aboard a vessel with Office Rats as Passengers, it was almost always in the Summer and great weather! About the only thing good about the trip was the food was better.
Honestly, at this point I’d rather have them riding as coffee-suckers and at least observe what work we do, the watch rotation, the food, and make friends, instead of sitting in a cubicle and not know port from starboard, and have no connections that would be impacted by their policy making.
Ahhh, but that’s the rub…the Hornbeck drones and the Federales I’ve did my bit toting around have shown almost no interest at all in the crew or what we do day-to-day.
For all of whatever, they were about as interested in us as they were in the furniture. …maybe slightly less.
As for the Federales, they seem to follow the “S’ith Lord Rule” in that they always travelled in pairs…and spent their time like dogs, sniffing each others’ snouts and behinds.
In this thread we have beat up on a few topics about the US failing merchant marine. There also claims to be this big shortage of US merchant mariners. I currently sail with a union and have got bumped off, even though I desired to sail longer. The waiting time to get back out is over 30 days. If there is even half the 70,000 mariner shortage the reports claim, why can’t I go to work whenever I want for as long as I want ? Why is there a shortage of people desiring to sail for 120 days per hitch with a gloomy outlook for a relief aka Military Sealift Command. What are H1-B visa criteria ? Can’t find someone in the US to do the job? Could the mariner shortage claims be a precursor to H1-B visa to foreigners due to US shipping companies inability to find US crew ? Maritime Academy grads that do not even attempt to find employment in the Maritime industry. Mariner shortage of 70,000 mean while the USCG physical becomes more stringent than it ever has been in the history of the merchant marine. Even general shipboard operations have become more overly regulated and overly burdensome than they have been in the history of the merchant marine. So much so, that the vessels are not equipped to meet today’s regulations. However still yet the USCG still finds its’ way to continually and constantly blame the mariner = equals more STCW mandated “training”. The NTSB cited causal factors to the El Faro sinking to be vessel maintenance, not the crews fault the Shipping company would not address the issues, or that the USCG renewed the COi despite the vessel issues. The merchant marine is failing due to self inflicted issues, think hard enough and those with the money control regulation. Those with the money are also greedy and the only thing stopping them from paying mariners less while at the same time enjoying the highest shipping rates the merchant marine has ever seen is the Jones ACT. However you can bet the greedy rich, are paying lawyers, politicians, lobbyist, to find ways around the Jones Act. They did not hesitate to jump right in to attack the Jones Act with the Puerto Trade after the Hurricane…So there we have it, we have beat up on the issues, gcaptain has even wrote an article about the failing merchant marine. There also seems to be a trend to hire the youngest worker the shipping company can possibly hire. Why? Kids do not pay attention to politics, the shipping companies can run them over. Another reason the income for a “kid” is basically residual ie they still live with their parents. Any wage / benefit package is better than NO wage benefit package. ie " A kid’s first job is merchant marine nothing to compare it to first hand. What does that mean, age discrimination or devalue for experience. Hire a kid with 1-3yr experience, over a 40yr old or older with a minimum of 5yrs experience post license. What to do about ? Here is an idea, create an advocacy organization that is neither union nor non-union with the sole purpose of advocating for the merchant marine. An advocacy organization that does not promote unions nor bash unions, only advocates for the mariner. The organization should have lawyers and writers well skilled at making the most compelling letters, and an easy way to get petitions out to a mass audience of mariners. Appeal to the media for media coverage. Capture the interest of the voter and you capture the interest of politicians. Just read a contract to build a no-crew ship has been reached and will be under construction. If you have not noticed the merchant mariner is under attack , will you fight for your employment ?
The shortage discussed is not now in peacetime but the anticipated shortage should there be a rapid mobilization of all the reserve sealift vessels sitting idle at present. This means more US flagged vessels need to be working year in and year out to keep those numbers up.
somewhere there was a number thrown out of 11000 US citizen mariners working on deepsea vessels would provide enough extra manpower to get the reserve fleet manned and going in a surge sealift but that would not leave men to spell the first group called not would it do anything to help the working vessels in the commercial fleet either. if the US somehow got into a big fight which was very long term requiring the full sealift fleet to continue in operation for several years then the US mariner will be lucky to get one month off in six but would certainly make some serious coin
The Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation will hold a hearing on Thursday, November 29, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. in 2253 Rayburn House Office Building to review recent Government Accountability Office reports on icebreaker acquisition and the need for a National Maritime Strategy. The Subcommittee will hear testimony from the United States Coast Guard (Coast Guard or Service), the Maritime Administration (MARAD), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
And it will be live streamed
https://transportation.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=402915
Here is your chance to see how Buzby fends off Congressional critics of MARAD. How in the hell they decided to pair MARAD Strategy with Polar Icebreakers, I have no idea.