New Maritime Report Marked by Factual Errors and Dubious Claims

Colin GrabowThe Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments recently released a report on the U.S. maritime sector that hasgarneredconsiderablepraise from the Jones Act lobby. That ’s no surprise. EntitledStrengthening the U.S. Defense Maritime Industrial Base, the report explicitly calls for the Jones Act ’s retention. Overlooked amidst the plaudits, however, are factual errors and dubious assertions that call its endorsement of the law into question. This blog post will lay some of these out.Factual errorsThe report includes a number of factual errors. In this section, I note these incorrect claims and provide a fact check.Claim: “Of these 40,000 vessels [in the Jones Act fleet], about 8,000 are unpowered barges.”Fact check: The source cited for this claim, the Maritime Administration ’sConsolidated Fleet Summary and Change List, does not mention the word “barges” nor features the number 8,000. In fact, the number of Jones Act vessels accounted for by barges is far higher. A 2017 Congressional Research Service (CRS)report notes that 22,000 barges operate on the Mississippi River alone while the industry group representing U.S. barge operators, the American Waterways Operators, places the number of barges at over31,000 (with another 5,500 tugboats and towboats). This is important because it illustrates that barges, rather than comprising 20 percent of Jones Act vessels, are responsible for 77 percent of this number.Claim: “Con...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 28, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Colin Grabow Source Type: blogs