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Mike Lee News

18 Feb 2020

The Federal Government’s 2020 Inland Impact

© William J. Chizek / Adobe Stock

It is often difficult to push through the federal government morass to focus on the issues that actually matter to the inland operator. While 2020 inevitably will be a contentious year in American politics, it is critical to stay focused on the items that will have direct impact on the U.S. maritime industry. From a potential new Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill to potential Jones Act challenges, 2020 will be an important year for inland operators to stay politically engaged.Work on WRDAJanuary marked the beginning of Congress’ work in earnest toward introducing a new WRDA bill.

11 Mar 2019

Senator Debuts Bill to Repeal Jones Act

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Open America’s Water Act of 2019 last week, according to a press release from the senator, a bill which would repeal the Jones Act and allow all qualified vessels to engage in domestic trade between U.S. ports.“Restricting trade between U.S. ports is a huge loss for American consumers and producers," said the Senator in the press release. "It is long past time to repeal the Jones Act entirely so that Alaskans, Hawaiians, and Puerto Ricans aren’t forced to pay higher prices for imported goods—and so they rapidly receive the help they need in the wake of natural disasters.”In 1920, Congress passed the Merchant Marine Act (the Jones Act), which requires all goods transported by water between U.S.

05 Oct 2017

McCain Pushes Jones Act Exemption for Puerto Rico Again

U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Mike Lee (R-UT) this week introduced legislation that would permanently exempt Puerto Rico from the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, or the Jones Act, to aid recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Maria and encourage long-term economic growth. The Trump administration's 10-day Jones Act waiver for Puerto Rico, despite the presence of more than enough U.S. flag tonnage to handle any and all relief sealift needs, gave McCain the opening he needed to reintroduce legislation that he has, on many prior occasions, brought to the Senate. The Jones Act requires that all goods shipped between waterborne ports of the United States be carried by vessels built in the United States and owned and operated by Americans.

22 Dec 2009

Increased Transhipments Predicted

"The increased demand for point-to-point service requires the use of transshipment hubs to coordinate feeder services to and from countries and ports with low-volume throughput," said Mike Lee, Consultant, Transportation & Logistics, Asia Pacific at Frost & Sullivan. He added that there has been a universal shift from transporting bulk or loose goods to transportation by containers due to the benefits offered by containerization such as safety, cost, speed, and convenience. "This is expected to drive growth in the container ports market in the short to medium term, especially from India where the level of containerization remains low," Lee said.