Opposition to Jones Act ag waiver Updated 3:28 p.m. ET, Thu Sep 22, 2005 WASHINGTON -- The Maritime Cabotage Task Force has objected to a request by farm groups for a Jones Act waiver to move grain on foreign-flag ships after Hurricane Katrina. In a letter to President Bush on Thursday, Phillip Grill, chairman of the domestic-shipping advocacy group, said the waiver request "is not based on any legitimate justification," and that the U.S.-flag fleet has existing capacity to transport agricultural products. On Tuesday, 21 agricultural organizations, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, asked the president to allow the use of foreign-flag vessels to transport agricultural products and bulk material to southeastern U.S. ports. Doing so would relieve pressure on the U.S. transportation system, and help hurricane recovery efforts, the letter said. The groups said that the shortage of U.S.-flag shipping comes at a time when the industry is expecting large harvests of corn and soybeans. Grill said that agriculture has a surplus problem due to low international demand for U.S. products, not the shortage of vessels. Grill also noted that many of the same groups opposed the Jones Act in Congress 10 years ago. After Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the Mississippi Coast, President Bush ordered a waiver of the Jones Act to use foreign tankers to expedite the movement of petroleum products. That waiver expired on Monday, except for ships transporting oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. |