Duffy and maritime leaders push for rebuilding U.S. maritime capacity, criticize recent Jones Act waiver

Sean P. Duffy, United States Secretary of Transportation, told attendees at the Department of Transportation’s 2026 National Maritime Day observance that the administration is "putting this industry back on the map" and cited an "executive order to restore America's maritime dominance" as central to that effort.

The remarks, delivered during an event honoring the U.S. merchant marine and maritime industry, were echoed by Maritime Administrator Captain Stephen Carmel, who said the government must take a systems approach—linking shipbuilding, ports, mariners, financing and regulation—to rebuild U.S. maritime advantage rather than pursuing isolated demonstrations.

"We are deliberately rebuilding an entire maritime ecosystem," Carmel said, urging investment in workforce development, modern regulatory frameworks and port integration to scale new technologies including advanced nuclear propulsion and small modular reactors.

David Heindel, president of the Seafarers International Union, praised training and apprenticeship programs and flagged a policy concern: he called the "ill-advised 5 month Jones Act waiver" a threat to recruitment and long-term commercial investment. "Anything less undermines our ability to recruit the best and brightest mariners of today," Heindel said.

Heindel also noted training figures from the Paul Hall Center, saying the center trained nearly 3,000 mariners in upgrading courses and graduated more than 300 apprentices in 2025, roughly 185 of whom earned able-bodied seafarer endorsements.

Greg Binion, CEO of Mainstay Maritime, described the Great Lakes fleet his company operates and linked cargo-preference policy to long-term investment: "The Jones Act is a cargo preference policy," he said, urging that waivers and uncertainty hollow out investor confidence needed for shipyards and fleet renewal. Binion cited the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 as the statutory root of current cargo-preference rules.

Speakers across industry and labor highlighted the need to sustain programs that support a U.S.-flag fleet—references included the SHIPS Act and other White House maritime action plan initiatives cited during the program—but offered no new rulemaking or specific funding commitments at the event.

The observance also included the Maritime Administration’s Administrator’s Challenge award; Administrator Carmel announced cadet Reid Burke as this year’s winner for an essay proposing a "strategic cargo network" that seeks system-level solutions to rebuild demand for U.S. fleets.

The program concluded with additional remarks from Defense and transportation officials; no formal votes or regulatory actions were taken during the event.