Jones Act protects nation’s, Virginia’s maritime workforce
The United States has experienced major supply chain bottlenecks during the past year, exacerbated by the high cost of fuel and likely to worsen thanks to commodity shortages and market turbulence created by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Although the American economy has certainly been shaken by these events, the Jones Act has been a safeguard against what otherwise could have been far worse outcomes in today’s environment.
Virginia has been vital to America’s economy and security since before our nation’s founding, so it is especially fitting that the General Assembly recently recognized the vital importance of a strong American maritime industry by passing a bipartisan resolution introduced by Sen. Lionell Spruill, Sr. and Del. Cliff Hayes, Jr., expressing its “resolute support” for the Jones Act, the federal law requiring that vessels transporting cargo between two U.S. points be American-built, American-owned and American-crewed.
In Virginia and across the United States, the Jones Act’s economic contributions are tangible — the law supports more than 19,000 jobs and more than $4 billion in economic output in the commonwealth alone and supports 650,000 jobs and $154 billion in economic output nationwide. And the Jones Act provides opportunities across our population, including for military veterans and recent high school graduates who want impactful careers that enable them to support their families while offering career advancement.
The American maritime workforce has been reliable and resilient through it all. But what would have happened if, in the middle of all this uncertainty, we instead had foreign interests moving commerce on our domestic waters — foreign interests that, at any time, could decide to slow or cease their operations, including for political reasons?
As the General Assembly noted, the Jones Act also plays an outsized role in protecting our national and homeland security. As our Navy League colleague Adm. James Foggo has observed, the ability to resupply our forces plays a major role in success on the battlefield — attacking an adversary’s supply lines has proven consequential in conflicts throughout history. And stable supply chains are critical both to our military and our economic viability.
Domestically, the Jones Act fleet moves cargo for our military, making these vessels essential to the readiness of our armed forces, and supports the Coast Guard’s homeland security mission by serving as a vigilant set of eyes and ears on our waterways. With respect to force projection abroad, the ocean-going segment of the fleet can be called upon to transport supplies to our military overseas, and the entire Jones Act fleet is a key contributor to the pool of well-trained mariners needed to support sealift operations during war or national emergency. The Jones Act also underpins American shipyards, and with them the skilled American workers that our military depends on for building Coast Guard cutters, Navy destroyers, and other vessels key to our defense needs.
The importance of the Jones Act is not an abstraction. As the Financial Times recently explained, Australia’s supply chain is almost completely reliant on ships registered to other nations, a reality that has serious implications for that country’s security and economy. The situation has prompted a former chief of the Australian navy to observe that his nation’s near-total dependence on foreign nations for its maritime shipping means Australia has no control over its supply chain and is “... fast approaching a critical point.” This is an outcome we must avoid if we want to remain competitive with strategic competitors like China, which already provides massive amounts of government support to its commercial maritime industry as a matter of geopolitical strategy.
With the passage of Senate Joint Resolution 47, the General Assembly has made Virginia’s voice heard on the Jones Act and has signaled the importance of our American maritime workforce to the future of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States.