Sec. 3503. Sense of Congress on the role of domestic maritime industry in national security
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Congress finds that— the United States domestic maritime industry carries hundreds of million of tons of cargo annually, supports nearly 500,000 jobs, and provides nearly 100 billion in annual economic output; the Nation’s military sealift capacity will benefit from one of the fastest growing segments of the domestic trades, 14 domestic trade tankers that are on order to be constructed at United States shipyards as of February 1, 2014; the domestic trades’ vessel innovations that transformed worldwide maritime commerce include the development of containerships, self-unloading vessels, articulated tug-barges, trailer barges, chemical parcel tankers, railroad-on-barge carfloats, and river flotilla towing systems; the national security benefits of the domestic maritime industry are unquestioned as the Department of Defense depends on United States domestic trades’ fleet of container ships, roll-on/roll-off ships, and product tankers to carry military cargoes; the Department of Defense benefits from a robust commercial shipyard and ship repair industry and current growth in that sector is particularly important as Federal budget cuts may reduce the number of new constructed military vessels; and the domestic fleet is essential to national security and was a primary source of mariners needed to crew United States Government-owned sealift vessels activated from reserve status during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom in the period 2002 through 2010.
It is the sense of Congress that United States coastwise trade laws promote a strong domestic trade maritime industry, which supports the national security and economic vitality of the United States and the efficient operation of the United States transportation system.