American merchant mariners rallied outside Marathon Petroleum's Garyville refinery in Louisiana on Thursday as the Chinese flagged asphalt tanker Jin Zhou Wan prepared to load cargo for another domestic voyage. Members of the Seafarers International Union say the shipment marks at least the third time the vessel has moved cargo between US ports under an emergency waiver of the Jones Act granted by the Trump administration.
The Jin Zhou Wan is owned by COSCO Shipping Asphalt Hainan, a subsidiary of the state owned China COSCO Shipping Corporation. COSCO has appeared on US government lists identifying Chinese military companies operating in the country, though the company has disputed parts of those designations. SIU vice president Chris Westbrook said Louisiana mariners should not have to watch from the dock while a Chinese state owned shipper takes work that belongs to American crews.
The Trump administration invoked the emergency waiver in March under Section 501 of the Merchant Marine Act, citing national defense concerns tied to the conflict with Iran and threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The initial 60 day authorization was later extended by another 90 days, and MARAD records show approvals for domestic voyages carrying crude, refined petroleum, jet fuel, naphtha and asphalt. Prior legs of the Jin Zhou Wan ran from Harvey, Louisiana to New Haven, Connecticut and from Paulsboro, New Jersey to Baltimore.
Pressure to let the waiver lapse has grown since Washington and Tehran signed a June memorandum of understanding that reopened the Strait of Hormuz and eased the supply shock that first justified the exemption. Analyses cited by the union from Navigistics Consulting and Reuters found the waiver did not meaningfully lift domestic fuel supplies or push gasoline prices lower. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Representative Clay Higgins and Representative Julia Letlow have joined dozens of House Republicans urging the White House to end it.
The dispute has become one of the year's sharpest maritime policy fights, pitting an administration still using emergency authority for routine coastwise cargoes against a labor base and US flag operators who say the Jones Act protects roughly 650,000 domestic jobs, including more than 70,000 in Louisiana. For owners and charterers on the coastwise trades, every extension of the waiver signals that foreign tonnage may keep competing for cargoes that were previously off limits.