IMCA Welcomes CBP Notice Regarding Offshore Vessels Under the Jones Act

Published on 25 October 2019

The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) welcomes a new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Notice to revoke and modify rulings relating to offshore vessels under the Jones Act.  These revocations and modifications will bring much needed clarity to the U.S. offshore sector, better delineating the difference between “transportation of merchandise,” which is subject to the Jones Act, and offshore construction, which generally is not.  The public, including Members of IMCA together with their clients, should comment on the notice by November 22, 2019.
Since the issuance and revocation of the CBP previous action in 2017,  U.S. regulators have been meeting with stakeholders from industry—domestic and international vessel operators, producers, and trade groups—to develop a comprehensive plan to solve outstanding issues relating to resource production in U.S. waters.  Although these proposals represent changes in policy, they are the product of considered and deliberate action on the part of CBP.
CBP’s Notice when implemented will reshape the regulatory environment in a positive way to allow U.S. and international operators to work cooperatively, as they have for decades, in continuing to produce energy resources from U.S. waters. 
As IMCA CEO Allen Leatt has noted, “Stability in the workings of the Jones Act has enabled many successful businesses to be established in the US Gulf States, both offshore and onshore, over the last 40 years, creating huge numbers of US jobs and we praise CBP and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan for their efforts in producing this Notice.”
See the link below to a letter that IMCA CEO Allen Leatt sent to President Trump in support of the CBP Notice.
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