Happy Birthday Jones Act. Let ’s Hope it’s Your Last

Colin GrabowTheJones Actturns 100 years old today. But the only ones likely to be celebrating or sending birthday cards are Washington special interests. For all other Americans it ’s been a failure, imposingbillions of dollars in costs while harming the very maritime sector it was meant to promote. It ’s time to let the Jones Act sail away into the sunset.Passed in 1920, this outdated law restricts the transportation of goods between U.S. ports to vessels that are U.S.-flagged, U.S.-built, and mostly U.S.-owned and crewed. But less than one percent of the world ’s51,000 ships meet these requirements, placing them off limits for domestic transport. That means a dramatic reduction in choice and competition.Compounding matters, the U.S.-built ships required by the Jones Act can cost of upfive times as much as those constructed abroad. U.S.-flagged ships —another Jones Act requirement—have operating costs that aretriplethose of vessels from other countries. This combination of reduced competition as well as high construction and operating costs has made for eye ‐​popping shipping rates. Shipping a container from the East Coast to Puerto Rico, for example, can bedouble the price of sending it to a nearby foreign port not subject to the Jones Act.These shipping costs are ultimately reflected in higher prices for the goods Americans buy.Americans have responded to the high cost of Jones Act ships by seeking almost any other method for transpor...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs