Dakota Creek Seeks Jones Act Waiver For New Processor Vessel

Dakota Creek Seeks Jones Act Waiver For New Processor Vessel

- Susan Buchanan

A catcher-processor vessel that’s nearly complete at Dakota Creek Industries won’t be able to fish in U.S. waters unless Congress approves a Jones Act waiver for it. The Anacortes, Wash., shipyard used too much steel fabricated in the Netherlands in the hull of the new 261- foot vessel, violating the statute.

The company is under contract to provide a Jones Act-compliant vessel to Fishermen’s Finest in Kirkland, Wash. Work on the boat, America’s Finest, should be complete in November. The vessel was to start trawling next year in the North Pacific, Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea.

The boat’s designer is Skipsteknisk AS in Norway. According to Skipsteknisk, “the vessel design has a highly efficient hull shape, which reduces hull resistance when sailing in ice or at open sea.” Dakota Creek had steel plates for the hull bent and cut in the Netherlands, with additional bending, fitting, beveling and welding done in Anacortes. In April, the company self-reported that under Jones Act rules it had used too much foreign-fabricated steel. Roughly 8 percent of the steel in America’s Finest is foreign.

Vessels qualifying for U.S. coastwise trade have to satisfy Coast Guard regulations under Title 46 CFR 67.97. All major hull and superstructure components must be U.S.-fabricated, and the boat has to be assembled in this country, Coast Guard spokeswoman Lt. Amy Midgett said in July.