Lexington Institute News

Here’s some good news for America’s sea power. While the U.S. Navy has initiated another review of its 30-year shipbuilding plan in the face of widespread dissatisfaction, one element within that plan has been praised: the decision to provide funding for continued construction of amphibious warfare ships. These vessels offer unmatched flexibility and the capability of transporting, deploying, and supporting ground combat forces – typically U.S. Marine Corps – to conduct amphibious assaults, humanitarian operations, or disaster relief missions.

The American Maritime Partnership (AMP), the voice of the domestic maritime industry, today released a statement in response to the sheer number of factual errors in the recent report published by the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure’s (Aii) – Jones Act: Protectionism v. Global Trade. “The publication is littered with fabrications intended to mislead policymakers and we demand a retraction of the report," said Tom Allegretti, Chairman of AMP. “It is shocking that a nonprofit organization led by former senior members of the U.S. military would produce such a factually inaccurate report and take such a myopic view of an important national security issue. They have failed to even acknowledge the fact that the U.S.

The United States Congress this week enacted the strongest statement of support for the Jones Act and the American domestic maritime industry since the Merchant Marine Act of 1936. The measure was included as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 3979), which noted that the national security benefits of the domestic maritime industry and the Jones act are “unquestioned.” The bill states that the Jones Act and the American domestic maritime industry are vital to “the national security and economic vitality of the United States and the efficient operation of the United States transportation system.” The legislation has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate and is expected to be signed into law by the President.

During an address today in New York City at the TradeWinds 2013 Jones Act Shipping Forum, American Maritime Partnership Chairman and American Waterways Operators President & CEO Tom Allegretti hailed the nation’s domestic maritime industry as a crucial element of America’s economic, national and homeland security, calling the Jones Act, which serves as the industry’s foundation, both a commercial and a public policy success. In his remarks, Mr. Allegretti highlighted the thriving industry’s role in the nation’s economy.

A recently released report from the Lexington Institute, The Contribution Of The Jones Act To U.S. Security, says the longstanding maritime law is vital to U.S. economic, homeland, and national security – serving the nation by maintaining a skilled merchant marine, shipbuilding capacity and sea lift capability. “The greatest danger to the role and function of the United States as a seafaring nation is the decline of its maritime industry and merchant marine,” the report says. “Commercial shipyards have made significant investments to modernize, and turn out high-quality vessels with advanced engineering. Moreover, tens of thousands of merchant mariners are at work every day as a consequence of the Jones Act. The Jones Act is a longstanding U.S.

The fate of New England's shipbuilding industry and thousands of jobs will depend on a series of top-level discussions that began yesterday at the Defense Department, where Navy officials are scrambling to salvage long-term plans to buy new warships and submarines built at shipyards in Maine and Connecticut. The region narrowly escaped the closure last summer of its two largest naval facilities, in Kittery, Maine, and Groton, Conn., but its multibillion-dollar ship manufacturing sector remains in jeopardy, according to defense officials and lawmakers. The Pentagon is seeking major budget cuts to help reduce the federal deficit and finance the priorities of the war on terrorism -- $7 billion worth next year alone -- and is considering further reductions in the size of the naval fleet…