The US merchant fleet is facing a huge challenge. A certain number of ships and crew is very necessary for national and economic security. 95% of the army's equipment and supply are transported by ships. The United States commercial vessels and government-owned vessels, with a total of 5,000 crew members, played an important and essential role in the strategic delivery operation supporting Iraqi military operations and continued to play a role in the following Afghanistan operations. In today's asymmetric combat environment, there is an increasing demand for special operations forces, maritime allies, maritime task forces (ESGs) and humanitarian/disaster rescue operations, so a certain amount of logistics and merchant shipping capacity will be necessary.
Top ten reasons why the US merchant marine industry is declining
US merchant marine industry is declining - Will the US Coast Guard and the Pentagon save it, and how to save it?
In 2018, American politicians and some corporate group leaders devoted a lot of time to the media to express their political determination, while the US merchant fleet was declining because it did not have its own political determination. But why is the reason for all this?
Roosevelt once said: The American merchant fleet has written a brilliant chapter in the history of the US Navy. During the war, they undertaken a large number of maritime transportation tasks and transported a large number of combat readiness materials to various war zones. The seafarers undertake the most difficult and dangerous tasks in history. As time goes by, people will become more and more aware of the importance of seafarers.
Historists unanimously agree that American merchant seafarers played an extremely important role in the victory of World War II and made unparalleled sacrifices. Without seafarers, the United States would not have won the victory in World War II, but Roosevelt's judgment on public perception was wrong. Even to this day, few Americans can understand the meaning of the word "Merchant Marine", and in recent years, on Memorial Day (US), the contributions made by seafarers in the war have been increasingly ignored.
At present, the American public's understanding of modern merchant shipping has dropped to an historical low, and the complex world situation faced by contemporary America (such as the Gulf War, Russia's rapidly growing icebreaker fleet in the Arctic, and the Afghan War, etc.) highlights the increasing importance of US shipping capabilities in global defense.
In a questionnaire survey last year for the whole American people, most Americans believed that Air Force is the most important military department at present, but the fact is that even the Air Force is inseparable from the support provided by the merchant fleet at sea. When war breaks out, merchant ships equipped with seamen are also required to provide material support to the Air Force.
In fact, any overseas operations in the United States cannot be separated from the strong support of merchant ships. The US military and Marine Corps must rely highly on the support of merchant ships and merchant ship seafarers. The Afghan War is a good example. During the Afghan War, all military supplies of the US military were transported to ports such as Karachi, Riga and other ports by sea and then transferred to the destination.
At present, one-fifth of the ships in the US Navy are equipped with merchant ships. If there are no seamen flying merchant ships to transport aviation fuel to warships, the most proud maritime overlord, the aircraft carrier, is just a floating target on the sea.
So what is the political determination of the US merchant shipping industry, and how can we gain more "political determination"?
According to a Harvard study, political determination is the driving force behind political action. In a democratic country, the motivation is the general public. That is, voters.
The lack of political determination has led to the decline of the US merchant ship industry, and what are the reasons why the lack of political determination in the US merchant ship industry?
A American media summarized the following ten reasons after surveying some leaders in politics, academics, military and merchant shipping industries:
10. The media against voters has insufficient influence
Malkem X once said, " is the most powerful weapon on the earth because it can control the minds of the masses. ."
Malkem X (English: Malcolm X, formerly known as Malcolm Little, also known as Al Haji Malik Al Shabaz (Arabic: الحاجّ مالك الشباز), May 19, 1925 - February 21, 1965), born in Nebraska, USA. He is a priest and one of the leaders of the American Black Civil Rights Movement. Critics believe he incites to spread violence, hatred, black superiority, racism, and anti-Semitism; affirmers regard him as an African-American rights advocate and a strong critic of white American crimes against black people.
media can control the ideas of the vast majority of people, so its influence in the political field is particularly great. Almost every political study regards the media as the most critical means to influence voter behavior. Even Trump himself uses the media as a daily propaganda tool to eliminate false news. He did this because he fully understood that the media can have a huge impact on the voting results and could greatly increase his support for himself to implement some projects.
However, US Maritime Administration (MARAD), which should have spoken out for the U.S. shipping industry, seems to be more indifferent to the media.
We can't remember when MARAD last held a media meeting, nor can we remember when the last time a reporter from Washington entered the MARAD interview happened. I can't remember when the last time the reporters were invited to board the boat to visit. The official website of
MARAD also failed to update the relevant information in a timely manner. When the reporters wrote the article, they could not even find some valuable materials and data on the website.
9. The Maritime Bureau seriously ignores the role of the media
"The media is a double-edged sword. The reporter can kill you, but it can also guard you." — Horace Greeley
"Real politicians are people who are willing to take risks. And dealing with the media is always risky...." – Charles de Gaulle
There is indeed a great risk to letting reporters enter the headquarters of the Maritime Bureau. The United States' merchant fleet is declining, and MARAD's jewel in his hand - the jewel of MARAD's handheld - at Kings Point, New York, United States Merchant Marine Academy has also been exposed in a lot of negative news over the past decade, although MARAD has tried to hide a lot of news from reporters. Lawyers have also said that don’t just think about positive publicity and not risk being exposed to negative news.
8. In fact, the U.S. Maritime Administration MARAD is not even sufficient to share good news from the outside world.
You provide pictures, I provide war
— William Rudolph Hearst
The news leader at the end of the 19th century William Randolph Hearst
The risk of being interviewed by reporters is very high, but the US Maritime Administration MARAD did not even share favorable news through other security channels.
U.S. Coast Guard , Navy, IMO and any large shipping company have full-time employees who manage news to issue press releases. However, the Maritime Administration's official homepage is only two pages, and there are no social media links, which looks like web news from the 1990s. As of May 2018, MARAD has only published 4 press releases and 1 media incident report. The Maritime Bureau published 12 news articles throughout the year in 2017. The Coast Guard has published more than 12 articles in the last day, and the Navy has even published more than 12 articles in 4 hours. As for videos, there are only 13 videos of MARAD in the past 15 years. If you search MARAD in the world's largest video search engine, you will find that all you find are Bollywood works.
7. The Maritime Administration budget is spent on lobbyists
Most unfamiliars are competing with other lobbyists, taking the money out of their left pocket and putting it in their right pocket. The shipping industry is changing slowly, but it is still spending money on a very old school budget project - The Untamed. The maritime industry spent $5673,756 on the unconventional last year, which is already an open secret and the tip of the iceberg that was revealed. That figure does not include money from executives to act in smoke-filled rooms and meet leaders, as well as money donated to golf games and exert influence on the rich and powerful.
6. The Coast Guard and the Maritime Bureau need to strengthen cooperation
cooperation will generate huge value. When interviewing the Coast Guard Commander in 2009, when asked about his role in promoting the American flag and the merchant fleet, the commander said that the Maritime Agency did not promote the American flag, which was their legal responsibility. The Coast Guard represents the American flag in the International Maritime Organization but is not allowed to be promoted? The Coast Guard and large organizations like the U.S. Classification Society work closely together. At the beginning of this year, the Coast Deputy Commander brought a large number of personnel to the largest maritime industry conference in the United States, ABS, but the Maritime Administration canceled the action at the last moment. Why can't the Coast Guard help the Maritime Agency promote the American flag? The Maritime Bureau used to be strong and the Coast Guard was weak, and the Maritime Bureau probably didn't need the help of the guard, but today their roles were swapped in 180 degrees. Considering the important tasks of homeland security today, why can't the Maritime Agency become stronger? Wouldn’t the two companies cooperate more closely in this way? It can save money and strengthen the merchant fleet.
5. Republicans sent a puzzling signal
Politicians are the same everywhere, both parties are the same. They promised to build ships and bridges where there was no water. Given the power of today’s media, the speech of senior politicians plays a significant role. During Clinton's administration, he was working hard to save the declining merchant fleet, but when Obama came to power, he basically ignored maritime affairs and only installed a young congressman and six naval submarine officials in the Maritime Bureau to help manage the Maritime Bureau. Instead, the Republican Party sent strong leadership to the Maritime Bureau. Senior officials from the Bush administration were very popular and often met with seafarers, and the seafarers also supported him. The high-ranking officials of the Nixon administration were influential, and even after years of his death, he continued to support the merchant fleet through his works. Meanwhile, the Republican Party has also done considerable damage to the merchant fleet, and Reagan is probably the most infamous president for closing the seafarers’ hospital and asking John McKen to slam the Jones Act every week. And the most destructive is the House Speaker Newt Gingrich , who abolished the Merchant Fleet and Marine Fisheries Commission in Parliament. Trump inherited this policy direction, summoning 355 naval vessels without mentioning the merchant fleet, and also giving other seats to British-Americans who run Hong Kong flags by giving one cabinet seat to a strong and supportive merchant fleet. How many Republicans participated in the attack on vessels that prioritized carriers of American shale oil and gas? It is impossible to emphasize that America is preferred while the U.S. merchant fleet is heading for demise.
4. Merchant ship seafarers have no effect in conveying information
Passion - passion from the heart, better than money, approval documents and everything we can do in parliament. Almost all of the Merchant Ship Fleet members have written letters to support the Jones Act and the U.S. Maritime Policy, but most of the time we receive reply is “thanks for our support to our Navy sailors.” In fact, even if everyone working on a ship with the American flag has written letters to lawmakers, we will be ignored because we have too few people. But if we spend this time on groups and activities where we can reach and listen to us, we still have a chance. Only by affecting the people that lawmakers care about can we affect the lawmakers. In 2018, the media and voters will affect the lawmakers.
3. Give honor and support to the wrong person
has not continued to grow and progress, and no reward or achievement can be discussed. Maritime Academy, which is related to the future of the country, has not set an example. The author of Dangerous Character novels, leaders of shipping companies on the verge of bankruptcy, generals who stood by while watching the decline of the merchant fleet, and long-time academy administrators who have not found a replacement for new ships that have trained ships for more than 50 years have been praised and received honors and valuable seats from the Academy Foundation.
The regiment-level commanders who plagued the students were long employed, and the young officers were promoted to the rank of the Rear General, who had been in charge of the state's maritime future for six years. Although all these jobs were done failed, they put aside their work and portrayed themselves as heroes through a press release. But truly moral and courageous people are ignored when they deserve honor. When China launched its new training vessels, the United States was still using old ships that had been used for 35 years. The inexperienced general was also promoted to maritime administrative officer. People have rarely valued real history and real facts.
2. No one promotes the US merchant fleet
Leaving advertising is not a long-term solution for any organization. Because of advertising, almost all advertisers can find this site. For this reason, the Navy, Army and Maritime Police Force have huge advertising budgets. Their advertisements not only convinced many young people to join the military, but also allowed the importance of serving the country and national defense to be widely circulated among the people. In the past, when we asked the Coast Guard to advertise, we were always turned away, while other national service agencies were actively advertising and donating. Why did Coca-Cola spend $1 billion on brand building in 2016? Even when watching TV magazines, we need to obtain information through advertisements. Even now that everyone has a mobile phone, browser companies are still spending huge amounts of money to advertise. However, the Maritime Bureau and the Coast Guard have no investment in advertising. Some people say that it is because consumers have the right to choose when consuming, which also applies to the US merchant fleet.
- People who need the most are also people who have political influence and economic strength to support it
Rights will not make people corrupt, only stupid people will make rights corrupt. Without the merchant fleet, no war or national defense can be carried out. The 21st century joint maritime power strategy, written by the Coast Guard, Navy and Marine Corps, did not integrate the power of the merchant fleet into the maritime power they defined so that they could not support us. Merchant fleets are the basic force of national defense, but it is almost impossible to support the construction of several new Maritime Bureau ships or Coast Guard icebreakers to make merchant fleets pass through the Arctic Ocean. But now the Ministry of Defense can do it, and transferring some weapons funds can give me enough funds to improve maritime transportation capabilities. But now not only are these not realized, but they have not done anything that can improve maritime capacity without any fees.
US Merchant Fleet
US Merchant Fleet includes maritime security fleets. In order to improve emergency transportation capabilities, the fleet has implemented modernization and purchased new ships with stronger carrying capacity, container freight ships and ro-ro ships to replace 28 old ships, continuously improving the fleet's transportation capabilities. Maritime security programs have shown its value, as the fleet has become the most cost-effective mode of transportation for the U.S. government since its first establishment in 1996 and obeys the call in an emergency. In addition, the Voluntary Intermodal Agreement, including the domestic Jones Act fleet, can provide 135 vessels, 213 barges and tugs, and joint transport capabilities around the world. Without these military-worthy merchant fleets, the U.S. government would have to invest more money to build other fleets and infrastructure, and it would not be possible to cultivate a large number of crew members who are skilled in flying the ships.
The U.S. Maritime Agency’s reserve force and military transport command fleet – meet the needs of the Department of Defense’s special tasks, including lifting of heavy cargo, nearshore fuel supply, auxiliary cranes, aviation logistics support ships and hospital ships.
Previously, the U.S. Navy Association had provided the following support to the U.S. merchant fleet: The Maritime Security Act is strictly consistent with the Cargo Priority Act. From the considerations of national defense and economic security, the system of tax collection by tonnage and the opening of channels for U.S. military goods is the basis for ensuring that the U.S. merchant fleet conducts international trade and becomes a strong and economically viable merchant fleet.
•The Jones Act and the Passenger Vessel Act are very important for the U.S. economy and national security, as these two bills protect the country’s critical infrastructure, provide more maritime capacity through a voluntary joint maritime agreement (which provides a large number of trained and experienced crews for state-owned ships), and support shipbuilding and industrial bases that are very important to the U.S. Navy.
•Budget and legislative measures, regulations on funds, currency exchange during operation, tax exemption for seafarers' income, consistency between domestic and international law, etc. have improved the competitiveness of the US merchant fleet in the international market.
•In order to participate in emergency and peace operations, as the fleet of maritime safety projects expands, sufficient and long-term investments must be made in it. To improve the fleet's transport capacity and the combined transport capacity globally will cost more than $60 billion.
•Implement investments on a scale authorized by the federal government, funding marine academies in six states, implement student incentive programs, and develop training vessels, which will improve the level and funding needs of the US Shipping Academy and ensure that the country can meet the needs of qualified crews for a longer period of time.
•The coast guard registers and approves the crew, and at the same time, the relationship between safety and commercial maritime interests must be handled well.
•To support the needs of naval and strategic resupply transportation, the U.S. Navy has established a strong strategic maritime reserve unit to ensure the retention of key transportation technologies.
•A joint action by government and industrial sectors to deal with piracy by carrying armed personnel on ships and adopting new technologies.
•The federal government and industrial sectors act together to increase the number of older unlicensed electrical engineers, sailing cable engineers and tanker crews, who gradually decrease as the commercial fleet increases.
•Enact relevant laws to ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs can treat merchant fleet members who have experienced World War II like other veterans.
