Amid increased pressure from the US maritime industry to boost Jones Act enforcement, the US Customs and Border Protection has created a new division of enforcement for the nearly century-old law.
CBP’s Office of Field Operations has created the National Jones Act Division of Enforcement, which has a mission to “assist CBP and industry partners on issues concerning coastwise trade, with the goal of being a clearinghouse for all coastwise trade issues,” according to a July 15 notice from Vernon Foret, director of the Area Port of New Orleans.
The division, known as JADE, will be headquartered in New Orleans and will include a staff of Jones Act experts, Foret wrote.
The Jones Act, which requires vessels transporting goods between US ports to be US-flagged, US-built and majority US-owned, is strongly backed by the US maritime industry and has wide-ranging, bipartisan support in Congress, which has previously refuted any efforts to weaken it.