Tradewinds asks did the Jones Act contribute to EL FARO loss?

by Michael Hansen, Hawaii Shippers Council, May 2, 2016

The Americas Correspondent for Tradewinds Newspaper, Eric Martin, posted on April 30, 2016, his first in a series of podcasts regarding the sinking of the Jones Act Roll-on / Roll-off (Ro / Ro) containership EL FARO on October 1, 2015 en route from Jacksonville, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The title of the series is “Tradewinds’ The Sunken Light House,” and the first 30-minute podcast, “Episode 1: How old is an old ship?” The title of the series is from name of the ship EL FARO, which is Spanish for lighthouse. The podcast is posted to SoundCloud.

Eric Martin provides an excellent overview of the issues relating to the age of the EL FARO interviewing both those who find the Jones Act domestic ship build requirement a significant contributing factor to the ship’s loss and those defenders of Jones Act cabotage who do not.

HSC: USCG schedules second round of EL FARO hearings in Jacksonville for May 16 – 27, 2016

Audio: The Sunken Lighthouse