Nation: Hard Astern

For the U.S. merchant fleet, peace is hell. More effectively than U-boats, its own unions have helped drive American shipping off the seas—or else, as a last resort against the world’s highest labor costs and taxes, into foreign registry. By any measure, the 78-day-old Atlantic and Gulf Coast shipping strike by three maritime unions that ended last week was one of the most disastrous in history.

By idling nearly 200 freighters and passenger liners, the walkout cost the maritime industry and labor $150 million. Moreover, judging from previous strikes, at least 10% of the cargo diverted to foreign ships will never return to the foundering U.S. merchant marine. The fleet has already declined from 2,332 to 910 ships in 20 years, now carries less than 9% of U.S. foreign trade v. 50% in 1945.

Though President Johnson claimed that the settlement did more than put “new patches on the leaky hull of maritime labor relations,” the industry was far from shipshape. Stubborn differences over crew complements, pensions, and a cargo of problems raised by automation have yet to be resolved by a new five-man panel that will include Labor Secretary Willard Wirtz and A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany.

Last week the Administration leaked word that a long-awaited “new policy” for the merchant marine would be announced soon. Its highlight: a huge new shipbuilding program. For defense logisticians, the lift cannot come too soon. Unable to depend on foreign bottoms to help supply the war effort in Viet Nam, the Government has had to charter 94 U.S. freighters and take 49 more ships out of mothball fleets, where many had swung at anchor since World War II.