Jennifer Carpenter: America First Requires the Jones Act
By Jennifer Carpenter, President of the American Maritime Partnership. It comes as no surprise that President Donald Trump is building a legacy as a consequential maritime president. After all, there are few areas of our economy that are more America First than the U.S. maritime industry. We have been a maritime nation since our founding, […]
VOGEL: Want More Ships? Fix How Washington Builds Them
By Jeff Vogel, TOTE Services. President Donald Trump’s call for new investment in U.S. shipbuilding comes at a pivotal moment. From icebreakers to training ships, America faces rising demand for vessels even as foreign competitors pour billions into their own yards. But there has been significant concern about how America can keep up. Government shipbuilding programs have fallen behind due […]
Great Lakes Icebreaker Gap Threatens American Maritime Dominance
By James Weakley, Lake Carriers’ Association. When Americans think of our coastlines, most picture the beaches of the Atlantic, the Pacific, or the Gulf. But the Great Lakes are America’s fourth coast — a 2,300-mile expanse reaching deep into the nation’s industrial heartland. Each year, this system moves more than 135 million tons of cargo worth over […]
Remembering World War II’s End, 80 Years Later
By Vice Admiral J.A. Baldwin U.S. Navy (Ret.). Sept. 2, 2025, marks 80 years since Imperial Japan’s formal surrender aboard US MISSOURI (BB 63), ending the Second World War. That ceremony in Tokyo Bay was the end of a global struggle that claimed more than 70 million lives and reshaped the modern world. It also […]
Constructing a Giant: The Journey of the FREDERICK PAUP
By J.Anthony Tedpahogo. From the first concept on paper to a fully operational machine, Manson Project Manager Jordan Brown reflects on the collective effort it took to bring America’s largest self-propelled trailing suction hopper dredge, the FREDERICK PAUP, to life. The journey spanned over a decade starting with pre-planning by Vice President and Gulf & […]
Navigating the Looming Hurricane Threat: Ensuring Robust Marine Insurance for Ports and Shipping
By Ed McNamara, CEO of Armada Risk Partners. The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season is shaping up to pose increasingly serious threats to American shipping, coastal ports, and surrounding areas. With climate experts warning that extreme weather could surpass that of recent seasons which saw widespread damage from multiple high-intensity hurricanes, the resilience of ports and […]
Why the Jones Act matters—to both Connecticut and Puerto Rico
by Jaime Santiago, CT Mirror. I’ve spent my career in the maritime industry, working with several shipping companies across Puerto Rico. Born and raised on the island, I’ve had the privilege of contributing to its port operations for decades. Today, I serve as Vice President and General Manager of McAllister Towing in Puerto Rico. From […]
Column: Anti-Jones Act attacks don’t hold water
By Captain Ed Enos. It’s curious why some are pushing so hard against the Jones Act in Hawaii lately (“Jones Act hurts more than it helps,” Island Voices, Star-Advertiser, Feb. 23). Contrary to what Grassroot Institute-affiliated scholar Colin Grabow writes, the Jones Act doesn’t impact the cost of fuel in Hawaii because our island refinery […]
Michael Lind: A libertarian radical sank America’s maritime industry. It needs to be restored.
By Michael Lind, Economics Editor at Commonplace. Ironically, it was the administration of President Ronald Reagan, an ardent Cold Warrior, that crippled American shipbuilding and America’s merchant marine. The individual most responsible for the destruction of America’s commercial ship construction industry was Martin Anderson, who served in the Reagan White House as assistant to the […]
Does the Jones Act Raise Hawaii’s Fuel Prices? A Closer Look at the Data
By Sam Norton, CEO of Overseas Shipholding Group. Colin Grabow of the Cato Institute argues that the Jones Act is the primary cause of high transportation fuel prices paid in Hawaii. His reasoning: Hawaii’s sole refinery, operated by Par Pacific, sources crude oil from distant foreign countries. Without the Jones Act’s restrictions, he claims, crude […]