OPINION:
US FLAG SHIPPING:
A Matter of National Survival-and More
Remarks by Lester Rosenblatt at the SUNY Maritime College, November 14, 1992 First, let me dispel a few myths. One is that one is speaking to a "friendly choir" when one speaks to the "marine industry. " Actually, one is addressing a fractionated group, each segment pulling in its own direction . Another myth is free trade in the industry. In reality it is largely a question of marginally less managed trade versus marginally more managed trade . Parenthetically, let me state that we should, as a nation , maneuver within these parameters to create, without the "subsidies" of yore, the regulatory/legal/ economic conditions that will make it possible for US shipbui lding and shipping to exist-and even be profitable! It can be done. Shipbuilding is a field where some retaliation by us against protectionism by other countries is called for in the national interest. I've recently heard in Washington another myth to the effect that the US is
We can control most of the world's sea lanes, but when we really need to use them, we probably won't be able to .... faced with no credible international threat in the next decade. In 1933 , Adolf Hitler came to power in an impoverished Germany. The rest is history. Only six years later, he started a world war that killed thirty to forty million, or more, and did change the face of the world foreverand it could have been far, far worse. Mankind is a murderous species and anyone who does not recognize that there are a dozen or more really hot flash points in this world, now, isn't looking. The last myth I ' d like to look at is the assumption in much of our sea lift planning that we will be able to ship cargos over the ocean without attrition. You simply must embrace a strong belief in the tooth fairy to go along with this! And please don ' t ask me to rely on all future conflicts being brief. Was that the case with World War II? Korea? Vietnam? No more myths. Facts: We won World War lI and much of the credit must go to our merchant shipyards. From 1939 through 1945, six years, this nation built over 5,000 ocean-going merchant ships. Now, this vast nation is building just one. Look at our nation's contradictory ocean policy. On the one hand, we have 8
what is probably the world 's most powerful navy; on the other, we have a very small merchant marine and nearly zero merchant shipbuilding. We can control most of the world 's sea lanes, but when we really need to use them, we probably won't be able to, for lack of ships and shipbuilding. After World War II we had by far the world' s largest merchant marine. In fact we were left with an overabundance of ships. For almost fifty years, we have not built any real series of merchant sh ips. One possible exception, "theMariners"thirty-five sh ips-and they Liberty ships on the production line during WWII. were built almost forty years ago. Building one car at a time, one can't tread this path. Otherwise, we probably compete with General Motors or Honda. won't see the survival of this essential Can we al low ourselves to become ingredient of the national economy and the victims of extortion? Can we permit defense. It is a matter of national surour trade (and we are by far the world's vival-and more. The re-creation of the largest trading nation) to be held hos- maritime prowess of the United States tage? If we have no shipbuilding yards will certainly improve our balance of and a merchant marine of insignificant payments and provide employment for a size, we will surely, one day , be "held large number of persons of all ski ll levup," and have to pay exorbitant freight els, and thus be of economic good to the rates--or worse-to buy the carriage of nation. .t our cargos from and to our shores. The US shipping and sh ipbuilding An alumnus of the State University of industries are necessary to the economic New York Maritime College, at Fort well being of our nation and to its very Schuyler, Lester Rosenblatt is head of survival. I pray our new administration the prominent naval architecture firm will have the good sense and guts to M. Rosenblatt & Son.
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In the past 13 years, ten US-flag steamship companies have gone bankrupt , w ith a corresponding loss in the US shipbuilding base. TheMatsonLine custom container ship R. J. Fieffer, seen here on sea trials on 16 July 1992 , was the first oceangoing vessel ordered from a US shipyard since 1984.
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SEA HISTORY 65, SPRING 1993