Trump lifts Puerto Rico shipping restrictions

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US President Donald Trump on Thursday lifted restrictions known as the Jones Act for 10 days on foreign shipping from the US mainland to Puerto Rico. While that measure might help speed cargo shipments, Puerto Rico is struggling to move supplies around the island once they arrive.

The US government has temporarily lifted the Jones Act following violent storms in the past, including Irma, which pummeled Florida earlier this month, and Hurricane Harvey, which thrashed Texas in late August. Critics had charged the government was slow to do this for Puerto Rico.

Overall, the island is likely to need far more than 30 billion US dollars in long-term aid from the US government for disaster relief and rebuilding efforts following Maria, a senior Republican congressional aide said on Thursday.

People line up to board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that will take them to the US mainland, in San Juan, Puerto Rico September 28, 2017. /Xinhua Photo

The aide, who asked not to be identified, said that while Congress has quickly fulfilled the administration’s requests for disaster assistance, there are concerns that government agencies have been sluggish and that red tape may have slowed the work of the Defense Department and other offices.

The immediate relief effort was still badly hampered by the hit to infrastructure.

Clearing cargo deliveries at the San Juan port remained slow, and several newly arrived tankers were waiting for a chance to unload their fuel, according to Thomson Reuters shipping data.

“Really our biggest challenge has been the logistical assets to try to get some of the food and some of the water to different areas of Puerto Rico,” Governor Rossello told MSNBC on Thursday.

He has staunchly defended the Trump administration for its relief response, which Trump noted in one of his Thursday night Twitter posts.

An aerial photo shows damage caused by Hurricane Maria in San Juan, Puerto Rico, September 27, 2017. Picture taken September 27, 2017. /Xinhua Photo

The military has delivered fuel to nine hospitals and helped establish more than 100 distribution centers for food and water on the island, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

It was also shipping such equipment as a large generator to power a radar center for air traffic control in San Juan and other airports, and a barge with 100 supply trucks carrying diesel and gasoline.

One area of improvement has been the gradual reopening of hundreds of gasoline stations across the island during the past few days, while a number of supermarket chains were also returning to business, officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said.

FEMA is the US government’s lead agency on the island, and focus on aid distribution.

The Pentagon also appointed a senior general Lieutenant General Jeffrey Buchanan on Thursday to oversee the military operations in Puerto Rico.

Buchanan, Army chief for the military’s US Northern Command, was expected to arrive in Puerto Rico later on Thursday. He will be the Pentagon’s main liaison with FEMA, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Source(s): Reuters