Law nets Great Lakes helping of food aid

摘要

At first glance, the Great Lakes ports appear ideally located for vessel transport of bagged food aid from Midwest growers' fields to starving masses abroad. Since 1998, more than 100,000 tons of food aid a year has been loaded at Great Lakes ports, and volumes continue to climb. The reality is that these Rust Belt ports would have none of this lucrative U.S.-government financed cargo to handle if it wasn't for a favorable provision in the nation's maritime law. Section 17 of the 1996 Maritime Security Act waives stringent cargo preference rules for food aid shipments moved through the Great Lakes ports. The provision applies to P.L. 480 Title Ⅱ bagged and packaged commodities, which are managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Agency for International Development.