America’s Congressman, John Garamendi and Senator Roger Wicker are reintroducing the ‘Energizing American Shipbuilding Act’, aiming to recapitalise the US’s strategic domestic building and maritime industries. This would be achieved by increasing the percentages of LNG and crude oil exports that will be transported on US-built, flagged, and crewed vessels.
The proposed bill will be a major boost for the already existing Jones Act, a federal law that regulates maritime commerce in the United States. The Jones Act only applies to domestic U.S. trade. It has no impact on vessels transporting cargo to or from another country.
Mainly, Garamendi firstly discussed the idea to Congress last year.
According to the newly-proposed bill, the American-built vessels would transmit 15% of the overall seaborne LNG exports by 2041 and 10% of total seaborne crude oil exports by 2033. If the Bill is passed, it is expected to boost the construction of many vessels, supporting jobs in American shipyards and domestic vessel component manufacturing and maritime industries.
According to Garamendi
Rising US exports of America’s strategic LNG and crude oil present a unique opportunity to create new middle-class jobs by strengthening our nation’s crucial domestic shipbuilding, advanced manufacturing, and maritime industries—which are key to national security and our ability to project American military power abroad.
He continued that American shipyards and mariners are ready to welcome the bill and compete against heavily subsidised foreign shipyards in Korea, China, and elsewhere.
Also, the Shipbuilders Council of America estimate that more than 40 ships would be built if the bill is passed, meaning approximately 28 LNG carriers by 2041 and 12 oil tankers by 2033.
In addition, Senator Wicker added that the domestic shipbuilding industry would boost ensure that the US will consist of enough American-flagged, crewed and built vessels that will be able to transmit oil and natural gas exports in times of conflict, noting that
Our geopolitical rivals have invested heavily in their shipbuilding capacity, and the U.S. should keep pace.
In the meantime, Matthew Paxton, President of the Shipbuilders Council of America commented that the bill will help the shipbuilding industry have state-of-the-art LNG and crude carriers to compete with China, Russia, India, and other nations that are focusing billions of dollars in shipbuilding capacity.
