Bye-bye, American shipping lines

An article in the Financial Times
By John Gapper
Published: February 23 2011



The two largest US-owned companies, Matson and Horizon Lines, occupy places 30 and 36 on Alphaliner’s table of container lines. Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping of Switzerland and CMA CGM Group of France are at the top, followed by others from Taiwan, Chile, Singapore, China, Japan, Germany and Korea. The US does better than that at World Cup soccer.

There are few such clear examples of an entire industry being blighted by trade protectionism as the US merchant marine fleet. The 1920 Jones Act, intended to protect US ships and shipping from international competition (or war) has effectively wiped them off the high seas. The US Navy, still the biggest and most powerful fleet in the world, has no substantial commercial counterpart. ...

The UK, which imposed the first of the Navigation Acts to protect its ships from Dutch competition in the 17th century, abolished its equivalent of the Jones Act in 1849. Yet the US still insists that all domestic cargo must be carried in US ships made in US shipyards, crewed by US citizens. As a result, it has a small container fleet that expensively supplies Guam, Alaska and Hawaii. ...

The expense of ferrying containers in Jones Act ships and unloading at strictly-unionised ports means that most non-bulk cargo is now taken by road or rail instead. That has severely weakened the US industry – the two biggest US-owned lines, McLean’s Sea-Land and American President Lines, were acquired by Maersk and Neptune Orient Lines of Singapore in the 1990s (the US arm of Sea-Land became Horizon).

Read more:
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/024650d6-3f92-11e0-a1ba-00144feabdc0.html

...when Americans, indeed all citizens of this planet have useful and meaningful work. Work that aids, builds and sustains us. Renewable and replenishing work. Work that adds, not just takes away -- the loss of U.S. container ship businesses whose main task is to ply the oceans dropping-off more and more plastic junk to us and elsewhere, plastic junk that will just end up floating in that same sea, well that is little loss to me. Maybe actually a gain. This paradigm we've had going now since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution is spent. It doesn't work. And there's little point trying to blow life back into it's decrepit lungs. Let it die.

- It's time to do something new and stop worrying about losing the old cancerous past that has driven to the point of extinction......

and so are containers, which carry most non-bulk items. What has largely disappeared is the US shipping industry.

Containers carry cars, TV sets, computers, appliances, ... you name it. They have taken over because they move goods efficiently on ships, trains, trucks, or any combination thereof.

Plastic trash in the oceans is a serious environmental problem. We need to make sure that plastic items are recycled as much as possible, not carelessly thrown away. Some cities are better than others at promoting recycling. This problem would persist even if international trade were abolished (which it won't be).

You're right about the bloated US "defense" budget, which soaks up money while infrastructure crumbles and poor people suffer.

here, will they start building plants here? Or break the longshoremens unions and change the laws? Well, I wonder?:sarcasm:

I am a 16yr ILWU longshoreman (local 13) and Harry Bridges indeed created a very strong and very dedicated union.

Here's a video we produced called "Eye of the Storm" I posted to google video: Eye of the Storm

Anyway, if you watch it all you'll see the last union busting hired gun the companies hired and how it went.

The reason for using trains rather than ships is speed. From Seattle to New York through the Panama Canal takes three weeks, 5 times as long as by train. Cargo from Yokohama can be in New York in less than 2 weeks using inter-modal. Ports all over the world are Unionized. And it makes no difference what flag the ship is.

The Harbor Pilots in Kaoshiung, Taiwan send their kids to private schools in Switzerland on their pay.

The problem with the US Merchant Marine is the fragmentation and cross purposes of the participants. It is also the result of US transportation policies that waste huge amounts of energy.

The problems with the US Merchant Marine are perhaps too complicated for such a brief discussion.

John Gapper sees the 1920 Jones Act as the main problem, and he presents his case persuasively.

You are correct on both counts.