to $2,123). per capita national income, for instance, had risen to about 63.2 percent of the U.S. figure for 1964 and has been growing at an estimated 15.6 percent per annum during the past 5 years. The 120-percent increase in Virgin Islands income tax collections, fiscal years 1964-67, reflected the very substantial increase in Virgin Islands' income, as more persons were employed at higher average salaries. The current minimum wage rate for industries engaged in Interstate Commerce is $1.60 an hour while the minimum wage for local retail services is $1.20 per hour. Each local industry has a different minimum. In the construction field, for example, the minimum for an unskilled worker is $1.25 an hour.

It is significant to mention here that in the 7-year period 1960-67, the Virgin Islands gross domestic product increased 290 percent, from $39 million in 1960 to $152 million in 1967. This demonstrates the tremendous growth taking place in these islands stimulated principally by tourist services and, to a lesser extent, by industry. The average annual growth rate for the Virgin Islands far exceeds the 8-percent annual increase in the GNP. Trends show that the territorial growth rate is expected to continue its rapid upward climb for at least the next 5 years before a tapering-off

occurs.

1. Natural Resources and Basic Industry

The U.S. Virgin Islands have not been blessed with the natural resources so vital to broad industrial development. Because of its size, geography, topography, and lack of a sizeable internal market, the Virgin Islands cannot sustain large-scale industrial development. For centuries the principal industrial activity of the Islands was the manufacture of rum from raw sugar. During the sixties, however, with the phasing out of sugarcane, the Islands' economy was transformed from an agrarian base to a tourist and industrial base. St. Thomas, which previously depended upon its harbor activities and commerce at Charlotte Amalie, was the first to embrace tourism as a major industry. The manufacture of rum

The Chase Manhattan Bank, op. cit., p. 2.

Darwin Creque, The U.S. Virgins And The Eastern Caribbean: (Philadelphia: Whitmore Publishing Co., Collowhill Street, Philadelphia 1968), various pages.

Prior to 1960, the U.S. Virgin Islands, owing to the lack of a governmental statistical bureau, had not undertaken any computations of gross domestic product.

from sugarcane is the Virgin Islands' oldest significant industry and still possesses some potential for expansion. As a result of special preferences including those provided by the U.S. Tariff Act and by the territorial government, the contribution of industry to territorial income has grown to over 10 percent.10 Moreover, shipments of industrial products (almost entirely to the U.S. mainland) are responsible for the more than elevenfold increase in exports between 1960 and 1967 to a total of $74 million." The upward movement in manufacturing was greatly stimulated by efforts of the local government through tax exemptions to foster the growth of business activity, especially manufacturing enterprises. There is a full exemption from various local tares and effectively a reduction of the income tax by 75 percent for those industries meeting certain requirements. In addition, a special provision of the U.S. Tariff Act benefits those manufacturers who export to the U.S. mainland. Under the act, goods may be shipped duty-free from Virgin Islands ports to other ports on the U.S. mainland if these goods qualify as Virgin Islands products and do not contain foreign material amounting to more than 50 percent of their total value.

2. Principal Industries

Tourism is by far the largest industry in the Virgin Islands. The strong growth in this industry of the Virgin Islands during the 1960's is illustrated by the rise in the number of tourists from 200,000 in fiscal year 1960-61 to 963,000 in 1967-68 representing an average annual increase of 109,000. During the same period spending by these visitors approximated $100 million. a. Construction and Manufacturing

In number of employees, construction is the second most important industry in the Virgin Islands. In 1960 about 1,200 persons were employed in construction. The current number is about 4,000, including construction workers on the public payroll. The industry's annual payroll is estimated at about $10 million.12 The value of new construction permits has been rising steadily in recent years. According to construction permits issued in the 1961-65 period, the value of new private residential and commercial construction more than doubled.

In 1965, the manufacturing industry employed about 1,400 people with an estimated annual payroll of about

10 The Chase Manhattan Bank, op. cit., p. 5.

11 Government of the Virgin Islands, Department of Commerce, Division of Trade and Industry, op. cit., p. 8.

12 Virgin Islands Development Board, op. cit., p. 13.

$5 million.13 Compared with 1963, this represented an advance of about 40 percent in employment and of about 60 percent in annual payroll. In fiscal year 1968, manufacturing industries employed approximately 2,300 persons with an estimated annual payroll of $7 million.

b. Finance

In keeping with the economic expansion of the Virgin Islands, banking and insurance have assisted growth industries. Retail trade has been a major beneficiary of the tourist boom. Aided by the low 6-percent import duty imposed across-the-board, scores of large and small shops, selling luxury goods at prices below those on the U.S. mainland, have sprung up in Charlotte Amalie, Christiansted, and Frederiksted. In a sense "Christmas shopping" takes place twice a year in the Virgin Islands, particularly on St. Thomas, with peak selling periods in both winter and summer tourist seasons. As a result, retail sales have soared by nearly 40 percent a year during the 1960's. This rapid business expansion has been reflected in an average annual growth in commercial bank deposits of about 30 percent during the past few years. These deposits totaled some $135 million last year, compared with only about $25 million at the start of the 1960's.

c. Other Industries

(1) Watches.-The major beneficiary under section 301 of the U.S. Tariff Act has been the watch industry. Watch assembly operations utilizing parts imported from various foreign countries, started in 1959. The apparent profitability of the first assembly operations attracted other watch companies, and production jumped to over 4.5 million units by the mid-1960's. Sixteen watch companies are now located in the Virgin Islands including local affiliates of many well-known U.S. firms. Typically these companies buy parts from Japan or Germany; assemble complete jewelled watch movements, using Swiss machines; and send movements or cased watches to the Mainland to be sold in the moderate priced market. The trade in watches and watch movements is subject to certain limitations, however, as has been carefully and clearly pointed out by the Virgin Islands' Division of Trade and Industry.14

On November 10, 1966, Congress passed Public Law 89-805 which established a limitation on the number of

13 lbid.

14 Government of the Virgin Islands, Department of Commerce, Division of Trade and Industry, op. cit., pp. 2-3.

watches and watch movements containing foreign components which may be imported duty-free into the United States from insular possessions. This legislation was necessary in order to retain the watch assembly industry in the Virgin Islands, which was rapidly getting out of hand. (U.S. shipments rose from 5,000 units in 1959 to a volume in excess of 4,500,000 units.) Public Law 89-805 imposed an overall quota for duty-free entry of watches and watch movements assembled in the three insular possessions for each calendar year. The quota is set at one-ninth of total apparent watch consumption in the U.S. mainland during the preceding calendar year. Moreover, the statute expressly allocates 87.5 percent of the total quota to producers in the Virgin Islands, 8.33 percent to producers in Guam, and 4.17 percent to producers in American Samoa. While most of the watch concerns are shipping to the U.S. mainland on a regular basis, a few of them have encountered sluggish markets since the tariff reduction on foreign watches. The total watch quota for the Virgin Islands during 1967 was 3,773,886.

(2) Oil and Alumina Processing.-The Hess Oil Refinery started operations late in 1966, processing crude oil purchased from Venezuelan producers. In December 1967, Hess Oil was alloted a specific 10-year quota of 15,000 barrels of petroleum products per day for shipments to the U.S. mainland. In return for this allocation, the refinery pays a royalty of 50¢ per barrel, equivalent to $7,500 per day, to the Virgin Islands Government.15 The remainder of the output is sold in Europe. In addition to tax preferences, the refinery enjoys the advantages of a strategic location in relation to sources of crude oil and markets in the eastern United States and in Europe, and the ability to handle tankers of up to 60,000 tons.

A similar pattern of self-sufficiency has been experienced by the Harvey Alumina plant, which began operations at the end of 1966. Bauxite from Australia and West Africa is processed into alumina, which is then shipped to refining plants in Oregon and Norway. The Virgin Islands are considered to be a strategic location for these operations, close to potential future sources of bauxite in the Caribbean and Latin America and between the Harvey Company's two markets. d. Future Trends 16

Industries operating under special advantages will probably continue to furnish the bulk of Virgin Islands

15 The Chase Manhattan Bank, op. cit., p. 9.

16 The Chase Manhattan Bank, op. cit., p. 6.

exports both to the U.S. mainland and abroad. Over the past few years, shipments of watches to the Mainland alone have accounted for more than half of total exports. With the recent start of full-scale operations, petroleum products and alumina will be increasingly exported to Europe and provide a boost to Virgin Is lands receipts from nondollar areas, with which the territory runs a large trade deficit. However, a further major expansion of industry in the Virgin Islands appears unlikely at this time due in large part to the shortage of skilled labor. Nevertheless, the Virgin Islands still hold considerable potential for growth of certain types of industries. Based on raw material availabilities, the territory might profitably support wood fabricating facilities, as well as meat packaging plants. Like Puerto Rico, such industrial growth will probably lean more to capital-intensive rather than to labor-intensive operations. In addition, plants utilizing female workers, still in relatively abundant supply, might be able to meet their personnel needs locally. On St. Thomas, the "Sub Base" industrial area west of Charlotte Amalie is being developed to accommodate additional industries and provide needed warehouse facilities. This project should help significantly in diversifying the St. Thomas economy. But the bulk of future industrial growth will probably be located in the central portion of St. Croix, which by topography and prevailing land use, is suited for this purpose. For the foreseeable future, the Virgin Islands will continue to depend upon a heavy inflow of tourists as the foundation of its economy.

C. COMMERCE

The traffic flow of the Virgin Islands attained a new high during the 1960-67 period reflecting the significant rise in employment, earnings, manufacturing, and standard of living experienced during this period. Hess Oil, Virgin Islands Inc. (Hess Oil) is the largest producer on the Islands, followed by the rum industry and assembly of watch movement and parts.

During the 1960-67 period, imports increased more than four times from $42.2 million in 1960 to $172 million in 1967.17 On a per capita basis, imports rose about 110 percent during the same period from $1,360 to $2,900. In 1967, imports of machinery, which climbed $7 million in value, represented the largest dollar increase. Much of this machinery was destined for applications in heavy industry (i.e., Hess Oil and

17 Government of the Virgin Islands, Department of Commerce, Division of Trade and Industry, op. cit., p. 7.

Harvey Alumina Inc. located at St. Croix). Food imports climbed from $13.4 million to $17.4 million followed by significant increases in drugs and chemicals, liquors and beverages, and construction materials. Overall imports from the U.S. mainland rose from $94.6 million in 1966 to $103 million in 1967, about 9 percent.

The U.S. Virgin Islands' leading 1967 exports, in descending order of revenue importance, were watches, watch movements, woolen fabrics, rum and gin, jewelry parts, perfumery and toilet water, and whiskey and cordials.18 During the period from 1962 to 1967, exports from the Virgin Islands to the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico experienced an average increase of approximately 290 percent in terms of the value of the commodities exported from about $19.12 million in 1962 to $74.49 million in 1967. Closer scrutiny of the export situation indicated, however, that this was not a consistent increase embracing all commodities but rather a mixed pattern of growths and declines with certain commodities climbing as high as 744 percent and others declining as much as 92 percent over the 5-year period. Thus, one can see that the expansion of the export industry on the Islands was uneven over these 5 years. The leading commodity exported, in terms of revenue, was watches and movements, the largest single export industry of the Virgin Islands. This category consisting of 28.33 percent of total 1967 exports experienced a very healthy growth of approximately 744 percent from 1962. The next export in order of revenue importance was woolen fabrics consisting of approximately 5 percent of total exports. This export category's revenue declined 56 percent and, in fact, experienced the second largest decrease relative to total exports over this period. It is noteworthy that, while this item comprised almost half of the 1962 exports, it amounted to only a little over 5 percent of 1967 exports. The third most important export commodity, in terms of revenue, was rum and gin which comprised 2.6 percent of total 1967 exports. The value of this export increased 87.3 percent. The fourth most important revenue export, perfumery and toilet water, experienced the largest percentage decrease. This item, consisting of 0.06 percent of the 1967 exports, decreased 92 percent over the 5 years. Whiskey and cordials earned only 0.03 percent of total exports in 1967. This commodity experienced an increase of 17.3 percent from 1962 to 1967.

18 Government of the Virgin Island, Department of Commerce, Division of Trade and Industry, op. cit. p. 19.

CHAPTER II

A. GENERAL

The Virgin Islands has a unique situation with respect to transportation services. This area is offered a substantially broader variety of such services than is generally provided to other areas of similar economic and geographical circumstances. In spite of their rather isolated location, as well as their small economic and industrial base relative to the U.S. market, the Virgin Islands are served by a total of 11 carriers offering a variety of roll-on/roll-off, lift-on/lift-off, breakbulk, barge, and aircarrier services. These services include: seven watercarriers which transported almost 95 percent of the U.S. domestic-Virgin Islands traffic in 1967 and four aircarriers which moved the remaining 5 percent of this traffic, an unusually high figure even for an island with no direct land connections. The carriers in this trade provide the Virgin Islands with service from the New York area, Baltimore, Miami, major Gulf ports, major West Coast ports, and Puerto Rico. The sea time from New York is about 5 days; direct jet air time is about 3 hours.

In 1967, the 11 carriers including water and air transport carried approximately 204,300 revenue tons of cargo from the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico to the Virgin Islands. The seven watercarriers including Alcoa Steamship Co. (Alcoa), Florida Inter-Island Shipping Corp. (Florida Inter-Island), West India. Line (West India), Netherlands Mead N/V (Netherlands Mead), Atlantic Lines, Ltd. (Atlantic), Berwind Lines Inc. (Berwind), and "K" Line carried about

185,000 revenue tons and earned $5 million in freight revenues, a slight loss over the 226,000 tons and $5.5 million of a year earlier. Nevertheless, the trade averaged a steady growth during the 1963 to 1967 period as shown in table II-1 below. Alcoa, Atlantic, Netherlands Mead, "K" Line, Florida Inter-Island, and West India provide direct service between U.S. mainland and Virgin Islands ports. Berwind, which operates between San Juan and the Virgin Islands, provides connecting service for U.S. mainland traffic moving to the Virgin Islands via San Juan. During 1967, the aircarriers moved 14,300 tons.