[PCW] go-anywhere power cats (Robert Deering), Jones Act

[Robert Deering]

John,

Thanks for the pricing clarification.  Better, but still far out of my
range.

I'm no Jones Act expert, but I understand that it was passed as legislation
to protect American ship builders from low-priced foreign competitors...you
know, like you.

The ruling basically says that a ship (boat) for hire may not originate in
one US port and terminate in another unless its hull is US-built.  That's
why for many years cruise ships (foreign hulls) running to Alaska departed
from Vancouver BC instead of Seattle.  I understand that some of the ships
now depart from Seattle so they must have achieved an exemption since
Seattle was missing out on a lot of tourist revenue.

I'm not aware of many charter boat exemptions.  The Grand Banks Northwest
question relates to bare-boat charters I believe which must not be subject
to the Jones Act.

Certainly most people buying a new $1M+ 55 ft boat aren't thinking charter.
It's the people that buy the boat from them that start to fall into that
group.  But buying expensive boats isn't an inherently rational process
anyway, so it's unreasonable to expect most buyers to give resale value much
consideration.  


Bob Deering
Juneau, Alaska