There are a good number of US flagged and US crewed cargo ships in operation. Most carry cargo between US ports and part of what is known as the Jones Act. The Jones Act was passed sometime in the early 1920’s and requires a ship carrying cargo, passengers, or oil products etc between US ports must be built in a US shipyard and crewed by US citizens. So a ship carrying iron ore from Duluth to Cleveland is covered by the Jones Act; a ship carrying iron ore from Thunder Bay, Canada to Cleveland is not.
Likewise, carrying cargo that is loaded in say Jacksonville, Fl to San Juan, Puerto Rico is also part of the Jones Act Trade.
Thanks. I suppose the Edmund Fitzgerald of Gordon Lightfoot’s song fame would be included in that group. So it would make sense that I didn’t know since the logistical management in which I’ve been involved always involved international shipping only.