Earlier this week Joe Teehan on KBAI's Joe Show asked about the Horizon Lines vessel, Horizon Fairbanks, down on Bellingham's waterfront to which I gave a a very short answer so here's the long version.
In order to protect US shipbuilders and US workers the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 stipulated that shipping goods from US port to US port would require a US flagged vessel, built by US citizens in the United states, owned by US citizens and crewed by US citizens.
Wikipedia has a pretty good entry on the Act here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Marine_Act_of_1920
The Horizon Fairbanks is maintanied by Fairhaven Shipyard personnel, she is 669 feet long and built in Mississippi in 1973.
Her former names are the Sea-Land Marketer, Sea-Land Expedition and then Horizon Fairbanks.
Horizon Lines pays just under $1000 per day to moor the Fairbanks in Bellingham.
The good news is she brings consistent business to Bellingham, the bad news is she's not working. So if she goes back to work I'm sure we'll miss the income but that means the economy on our coast is much stronger.
Here's a couple interesting articles:
http://www.westernfrontonline.net/news/article_841ec3e2-8286-5f04-b062-531ba33f91c7.html
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=852262
