The Jones Act is a tremendous competitive advantage for Puerto Rico, creating a closed loop of shipping routes to and from the U.S. mainland, and offering other benefits that combined, save retailers and manufacturers more than $120 million each year on their cargo shipments.
The maritime industry has been a pillar of the economy for as long as shipping vessels have delivered goods and commodities to American shores. In no small part, the Jones Act has been the engine driving this success for nearly a century, requiring that any ship carrying cargo between two ports in the U.S. be American-built, owned and crewed.
For the second consecutive year, cadets from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy are spending time on board tugboats and towboats this summer as part of a program under the auspices of the Coast Guard-American Waterways Operators (AWO) Safety Partnership.
An improving economy and the opening of a new battery of coke ovens along the Monongahela River are spurring the sharp increase in river shipping, experts said on Monday.
