America's Orphan: The U.S. Flag Merchant Marine

Summary

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Addressing this special issue's theme of Maritime Business, the issue editor has selected this widely read 1996 article to present a topic of great importance. As a maritime nation, the United States has effectively used its ships and seafarers to maintain its global supremacy. This article addresses the "fourth arm of defense," the U.S. flag fleet, which faces a significant decline in its share of international shipping. This decline has disturbing long-term implications for America's national security and economic well-being. The author makes a case for a subsidy as a strategic measure to access new markets and satisfy rapidly changing customer expectations.

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Extract

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America's Orphan: The U.S. Flag Merchant Marine

Introduction

Sea History's readers know, perhaps all too well, that America's peacetime merchant fleet always begins to dwindle shortly after every war. It seems that when a strong case for having an ongoing, vibrant U.S. flag merchant marine is made to one generation, the lesson goes untaught to the next. Priorities, incentives and opportunities naturally shift as the wartime emergency recedes. Thus, what President Eisenhower termed the "fourth arm of defense" remains out of the news, and the strategic and economic value of a home flag merchant marine becomes a cause only for a dwindling constituency.

Lack of public interest in the merchant marine is paradoxical when you consider that the U.S. is the largest single national market for trade the world has ever known. U.S. foreign trade is worth over...

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