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The U.S. will temporarily waive the requirements of the Jones Act for Puerto Rico. The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, also known as the Jones Act, requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be carried using American vessels crewed by Americans:
The Trump administration said on Thursday that it would temporarily waive a century-old shipping law for Puerto Rico that officials there said was hindering disaster relief efforts after Hurricane Maria.
The waiver of the law, known as the Jones Act, comes as federal and local officials report more supplies trickling onto the increasingly desperate island. But the Trump administration remains under pressure to step up the recovery effort.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, announced the decision on Twitter on Thursday morning, saying that President Trump had authorized it after a request from Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló of Puerto Rico.
But the real problem for hurricane relief in Puerto Rico? A lack of truck drivers:
It's one thing to get supplies to Puerto Rico. But officials at the Department of Homeland Security, which administers FEMA, say moving goods around the island is the bigger challenge. Diesel is short. Drivers are scarce. And authorities say some roads are still impassable, although local officials dispute that explanation.
These containers were brought to the island by Crowley, a maritime shipping company. The company started unloading shipments on Saturday. By Friday, it will have received four ships, with a total of about 4,000 loaded crates. Crowley says it has more than 3,000 containers there now. That's just one shipping company, at one port. Several other ports are accepting shipments and stranded crates total an estimated 10,000. "This is food, this is water, this is medicine," says Vice President Jose Ayala, who notes a barge a day has arrived since the port opened on Saturday. "It has reached Puerto Rico. The problem is we can't get it on the shelves."
"Plenty of vessels can get cargo to the island," agrees Mark Miller, Crowley's vice president of communications. "But the real difficulty is getting the goods to the people via trucks."
FEMA: Puerto Rico situation has 'improved significantly'
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 30 2017, @07:19AM (1 child)
It seems that the outcome could have been very different if the ballot had been written differently.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 30 2017, @06:26PM
Seeing as how their membership was only 3% of the population, I think we can ignore them.