Union fights Philly yard

The Department of Homeland Security in the USA has rejected an AFL-CIO complaint about use of foreign-made parts at the Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, prompting the union to vow a political fight over U.S. shipbuilding protections.

The Metal Trades Department of the AFL-CIO asked the US Coast Guard, part of Homeland Security, in mid-May to review the yard?s construction of 10 tankers based on a design bought from South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and using components procured through Hyundai.

The union claimed that Aker was violating the Jones Act, a law intended to protect US shipbuilding by allowing only US-made ships to be certified to ply US ports.

Aker intends to lease the tankers for use among US ports and has denied violating any laws.

The USCG had earlier given Aker clearance to import 87.9 tons of stern bulbs and bulbous bows in construction of the tankers. It said those parts would weigh 1.14% of each hull’s total weight, safely under the Jones Act limits of 1.5%. In arriving at this figure, the USCG pointed out that it was not counting additional foreign-built components of Aker’s tankers such as rudder horn casting, engine-room modules, and steel braces because Aker plans to assemble or modify them in Philadelphia. The Coast Guard maintains that there is no limitation on the amount of foreign materials that may be used, such as steel, as long as that material has not been worked or fabricated in any way.

An Aker spokesman said the USCG?s stance confirms the company’s assertion that its foreign-made engines, modules, piping and other parts were legal. But Ronald E. Ault, metal trades president, scoffed at the Coast Guard’s interpretation as “something it pulled out of the air” and said the union would ask Congress to refine the rules.

“We’ll ask whether the Coast Guard’s interpretation of the Jones Act meets the definition of the law,” Ault said. He said the union would appeal to the Coast Guard commandant, as required, but anticipated it would lose and was preparing to carry the battle further. The union represents about 600 workers out of roughly 1,100 Philadelphia shipyard employees.