Chapter V: Marine Transportation 
Introduction 
Transportation has traditionally been a major 
arena for Government regulatory and developmental 
activity. The vital importance of safe, efficient trans- 
portation to economic well-being and security has 
long been recognized and because of the large ex- 
penditures required to build and maintain many ele- 
ments of a viable transportation system, substantial 
Government involvement has been a natural devel- 
opment. 
In water transportation, an early role for Govern- 
ment evolved in developing and maintaining the 
water transportation infrastructure. Traditional Gov- 
ernment activities in this area have included assist- 
ance in port and waterway development projects, 
the promulgation and enforcement of standards for 
the safe operation of the water transport system, and 
the provision of services to aid navigation and safety. 
In recent years a growing Government role has 
emerged in conjunction with efforts to better inte-_ 
with other broad social objectives such as environ- 
mental protection, public safety, and better manage- 
ment of limited ocean and coastal resources. 
Another traditional area of Government involve-. , 
ment in water transportation has been in the devel- 
opment and implementation of shipping policies._ 
Such policies have been defined as actions taken by 
government to modify the impact of market forces 
on the construction and operation of merchant ves- 
sels.These measures, which include both regulatory 
and promotional activities, may be temporary or may 
be carried out over an extended period and may 
range from relatively subtle or indirect actions in- 
tended to exert minor or peripheral influence on the 
market, to outright state ownership and operation 
of shipping and shipbuilding assets. Under this broad 
definition, few maritime nations today would be cor- 
rectly characterized as having no shipping policy. 
While the extent and nature of Government involve- 
ment varies widely from one maritime nation to 
another, some degree of Government participation in 
maritime affairs is now probably almost universal 
among maritime states.* 
1S. G. Sturmey. “National Shipping Policies,’ Journal of In- 
dustrial Economics, 13: 14-29, November 1965. 
2 Even ‘‘flag-of-convenience’ governments (such as Liberia) 
V-1 
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grate requirements for efficient water transportation € 
In the United States, Government participation in 
the development and regulation of water transporta- 
tion, and in the promotion of U.S. shipping and ship- 
building, dates from the earliest days of the Repub- 
lic. The second and third acts of the First Congress 
esta blished lower import and tonnage duties for 
U.S._vessels than for foreign vessels,* and 5 of the 
first 11 acts of the First Congress contained_provi- 
sions to ‘to regulate shipping and encourage the growth 
of the American merchant marine. Early articulation 
of the importance of navigation to both our com- 
merce and defense was contained in a letter written 
in 1793 by Thomas Jefferson to the House of Repre- 
sentatives.* 
“As a branch of industry [our navigation] 
is valuable, but as a resource of defense, 
essential. Its value as a branch of industry 
is enhanced by the dependence of so many 
other branches on it. In times of general 
peace it multiplies competitors for employ- 
ment in transportation, and so keeps that 
at its proper level, and in times of war— 
that is to say, when those nations, who 
may be our principal carriers, shall be at 
war with each other—if we have not 
within ourselves the means of transporta- 
tion, our produce must be exported in 
belligerent vessels, at the increased ex- 
pense of war freight and insurance, and 
the articles which will not bear that must 
perish on our hands. But it is as a resource 
of defense that our navigation will admit 
neither neglect nor forebearance. The posi- 
tion and circumstances of the United 
States leave them nothing to fear on their 
landboard, and nothing to desire beyond 
exert some influence over the operation of merchant vessels under 
their registry, although effective regulation is characteristically 
minimal. Growing pressure for better control of vessels under 
convenience stry is gradually compelling many of these na- 
tions to adopt increasingly stronger merchant shipping policies. 
3 Gerald R. Jantscher. Bread Upon the Waters: Federal Aids 
to the Maritime Industries, Washington, D.C., The Brookings 
Institution, 1975, p. 1. 
4 Thomas Jefferson, 1793 letter to the U.S. House of Repre- 
sentatives, as quoted in a speech delivered on March 25, 1922, 
by Joseph E. Ransdeil of Louisiana before the Senate ‘of the 
United States. 
