Jones Act Vessel

A vessel qualified to carry merchandise between US points under section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (the Jones Act): it must be US-built, US-flagged, owned by US citizens (at least 75 percent), and crewed by US citizens or permanent residents. The law reserves domestic coastwise trade to such ships; cargo moved between two US ports on a foreign-built or foreign-flagged vessel breaches it. The same Act’s section 33 gives injured seafarers a negligence remedy against the employer.