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Puerto Rico seeks Jones Act exemption, but Navy League says no way

THE Navy League, a US civilian maritime lobby founded at the suggestion of former president Theodore Roosevelt, wants Congress to deny an exemption from the Jones Act sought by Puerto Rico, reports American Shipper.

A report from the Working Group for the Fiscal and Economic Recovery of Puerto Rico, established by Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, said an exemption would "reduce transport costs and increase competitiveness" by no longer forcing shippers to use US ships between the island and the mainland.

But the Navy League said "exempting Puerto Rico from the Jones Act would undermine national security, causing a ripple effect that would impact the entire American shipping industry".

The Navy League said "the military strategy of the United States relies on the use of commercial US-flag ships and crews and the availability of a shipyard industrial base to support national defence needs".

To the extent that Jones Act markets are unable to sustain a viable reserve fleet, the [Department of Defence] "would have to incur substantial additional costs to maintain and recapitalise a reserve fleet of its own".

The letter urged congressmen to "exercise your national security jurisdiction over the Jones Act and ensure that no changes are made to this important law in the context of Puerto Rico or any other context."

The conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, in an article about the Puerto Rico debt crisis said Congress should exempt territory from the Jones Act.

"Relief from the Jones Act would allow the cost of living on Puerto Rico to decline, effectively giving everyone on the island a raise," said the foundation.

"The Jones Act also makes doing business in Puerto Rico riskier because it makes supply lines to and from the U.S. mainland more brittle," it said.