[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 75 (Friday, May 15, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1179]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          EARMARK DECLARATION

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                             HON. JO BONNER

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 15, 2009

  Project Name: Drydock ALABAMA Pier Relocation
  Requesting Member: Congressman Jo Bonner
  Bill Number: FY09 War Supplemental Appropriations Bill
  Account: CH 5 GPs
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Atlantic Marine Alabama, LLC
  Address of Requesting Entity: Main Gate, Dunlap Drive, Mobile, AL 
36602
  Description of Request: $0 will be utilized to create 350 U.S. 
shipyard jobs. Atlantic Marine, a company with shipyards in Florida and 
Alabama, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, owns the dry-dock 
ALABAMA. A dry-dock is a piece of floating construction equipment used 
to raise and lower ships. The ALABAMA has been moored at Atlantic 
Marine's Mobile, Alabama facility for over 15 years after it was 
purchased from another U.S. shipyard that acquired it over a quarter of 
a century ago from a foreign manufacturer.
  Atlantic Marine is currently constructing three Jones Act compliant 
ships for a Texas-based customer that will use the ships to transport 
petroleum. The Jones Act requires all ``vessels'' that move from one 
point in the U.S. to another to be built in the U.S. To safely launch 
these ships, Atlantic Marine must move the ship onto the dry-dock 
ALABAMA. The dry-dock containing the newly constructed ship must then 
be shifted less than 100 yards to an adjacent pier within the shipyard 
to launch the ship.
  Unfortunately, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) recently determined 
that this incidental movement of a foreign-built dry-dock within the 
shipyard violates the Jones Act, leaving the shipyard without a viable 
method of launching the ships. This interpretation by CBP is clearly 
not within the commonly understood attributes of the Jones Act. It is 
debatable whether a dry-dock is a ``vessel'', and the determination of 
moving the dry-dock from one pier in a shipyard to another pier in the 
same shipyard constitutes two points in the U.S. is questionable. This 
amendment is supported by the International Organization of Masters, 
Mates, and Pilots (MM&P), the 6,800 member union representing the 
domestic maritime industry and America's Merchant Marine.
  This provision (a Jones Act waiver for the dry-dock ALABAMA) will 
create 350 shipyard jobs and the newly constructed Jones Act ships 
(once launched) will be crewed by 225 U.S. merchant mariners, all 
without any cost of the taxpayer.

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