ITF report shows maritime cabotage policies are a necessary safeguard for national security and supply chain resilience
National security and strong national maritime policies go hand in hand – that is the message of the International Transport Workers’ Federation’s (ITF) new briefing on domestic maritime policies.
Drawing on examples from Australia, Brazil, Canada and the USA, Domestic Maritime Policies: a Focus on National Security outlines that national flag shipping and ‘cabotage’ – the reservation of a country’s domestic maritime commerce for its own citizens – is vital for maintaining supply chain resilience and, in turn, national security.
The importance of maritime cabotage policies is reflected in their wide uptake around the world. Seafarers’ Rights International research published this month shows that 105 states, approximately 85% of the world’s countries, currently have cabotage laws or policies in place – an increase on 91 countries in 2018.
Chris Given, President of the Seafarers’ International Union of Canada and the ITF Cabotage Task Force Chair, said: “Cabotage policies promote fair market competition, help ensure the retention of a qualified workforce, and create thousands of direct and indirect employment opportunities.
“Simply put, it is in our national interest to ensure that we can transport goods and people without reliance on a non-national carrier or a non-national workforce.”
The ITF briefing outlines that in periods of crisis or conflict, maritime states must maintain a national fleet of vessels and trained seafarers to enable and support transportation operations.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, reliance on non-national carriers impacted by changed shipping schedules, delays and freight rates only worsened severe supply chain disruption: national fleet capacity could have enabled impacted states to effectively operate autonomously.
“Autonomy over supply chains forms an integral part of any successful national economic and national security policy,” said David Heindel, President of the Seafarers’ International Union USA and Chair of the ITF Seafarers’ Section.
“We have always had a safeguard in both the USA and Canada in that our national shipping industries are bolstered through the Jones Act in the United States and the Coasting Trade Act in Canada: cabotage ensures that we are better equipped to weather these storms in times of disruption. And, because they are a common-sense approach to ensuring that coastal nations retain the capacity to move their own goods and people, these policies are now the norm and not the exception.”
The briefing makes a number of recommendations to governments. These include considering cabotage and national flag fleets as critical to national security; ensuring that critical cargoes such as fuel, food and medical supplies can be transported by national flag vessels; ensuring that sufficient domestic tonnage and qualified labour is available for national flag ships to operate in periods of crisis; and a call to NATO members to strengthen their merchant navies.
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Notes to Editors
