Jones Act 'Suppresses Domestic Commerce' - End It

Newsmax ^

[DIRTYSECRET]

Any vessel moving cargo between two American ports must be built in an American shipyard, be American-owned and be three-quarters American-crewed. An American-built cargo ship costs $190 million to $250 million to build; the same vessel costs about $30 million from a foreign shipyard.

It adds up, but not many people trace it to a statute they're mostly unaware of. One side is lobbying. The other is you, and you're busy.

Fewer than 100 oceangoing ships qualify under the Jones Act today, and the American tanker fleet is so thin that moving oil from Texas to the Northeast costs about three times what it would to ship it FROM AFRICA.

The Trump administration suspended the Jones Act for energy and fertilizer shipments. It's not the first waiver of its kind, but it is the longest in recent history and the administration just announced a 90-day extension.

[woodbutcher1963]

Not
In
My
Back
Yard

Kinder Morgan proposed building a 3’ natural gas pipeline from PA, through NY into MA, NH and back into MA. It failed due to the NIMBY effect. Even though a lot of the ROW already has a 1’ diameter pipeline right now.

We need Natural gas up here in New England.
We burn it to make electricity & heat our homes.
A large part of that comes in by LNG tankers into the port of Boston. So, if that gas is coming from Houston those ships have to abide by the Jones Act.

There is not the infrastructure of pipelines here in New England like there is even in NY.
Therefore, people who live in the country(like ME)have a forced hot water heating oil furnace. The only alternative is Propane. OR Wood. I have a Harman pellet stove insert too.

[Alberta's Child]

Shipping by water is cheap, but it’s definitely not fast — especially for domestic transport.

[woodbutcher1963]

Yes, foreign vessels can operate in the Great Lakes system. It is how the ZEBRA MUSCLE came in 50 years ago and destroyed/cost millions. I believe it came from the Black Sea.

I do not believe they can pick up cargo in Duluth and deliver it to Buffalo though. Which is similar to the trucking laws. Meaning a Canadian trucking company can deliver into the USA. They can then pick up and return cargo to Canada. They CAN NOT pick up in Idaho and deliver to Montana.

[MeanWestTexan]

“but it’s definitely not fast — especially for domestic transport.”

Sure, once the pipeline is built.

But building one takes years, if not a decade (for something like a Texas to the NE line).

Think: mountains, lakes, streams, homes, roads, elevation changes.

[Bookshelf]

Is there a prohibition disallowing American companies to purchase foreign vessels and then flying the American flag?

[Macoozie]

“What can/should we do about it? “

Learn to make quality products in America, by Americans, for Americans. Let’s make stuff again.

Those folks working at the shipyard sure would like those jobs. The Town wants those jobs. Every person with an ancillary business wants the jobs. And that money would recirculate in the US.
The Virtuous Cycle.
Instead of Off-Shoring and just Financializing everything.

It’ll take time.
But not starting now just makes it take more time.

I’ll gladly suffer my share to make a better America for my kids.
MAGA is all of us, together.

[DiogenesLamp]

If you think it's a good idea to overturn the Jones Act, just envision a scenario where you have Chinese-flagged barges operating with Indian and Malaysian crews on the Mississippi River system.

I agree with you here.

[DIRTYSECRET]

**Learn to make quality products in America, by Americans, for Americans. Let’s make stuff again.**
Easier said than done. Think of the service industry where illegals fill the employment vaccum.

**Sure, once the pipeline is built but building one takes years, if not a decade (for something like a Texas to the NE line). Think: mountains, lakes, streams, homes, roads, elevation changes.**

It’s like electricity. You take the path of least resistance.

[DIRTYSECRET]

**We need Natural gas up here in New England.**
Just freeze. The voters don’t help themselves much.

[Fai Mao]

I would bet a lot of the cost involved is needless regulations and fear of frivolous lawfare. Giant cruise ships are built in Italy, France, and Finland. None of those places are known for low labor cost.

[Rockingham]

Pipelines are expensive to build and exceptionally hard to get approved.

[Resolute Conservative]

You’d think that since the US oil rush started in Titusville in 1859, they would have built a pipeline or two.

[muir_redwoods]

I agree. It’s basically legalized restraint of trade.

[EnderWiggin1970]

Yes, US built ships are more expensive. But we are already in a crisis over utter lack of shipbuilding capacity in the US to maintain the Navy; repealing the Jones Act will virtually finish off the elimination of US shipbuilding.

I'm totally on board with free market economics, with the caveat that sometimes there are other non-economic factors to consider. Military/national security being a key factor. Just because China can build ships or tanks or bullets cheaper than us doesn't mean we should contract out to them for all our ships and tanks and bullets. Establish tariffs or laws like the Jones act strategically where necessary, while encouraging a free market amongst domestic producers.

[Rockingham]

As with the thousands of miles of the US interstate system, thousands of miles of pipelines in the US do not mean that there is always a suitably large pipeline that goes where you want it to go.

[pierrem15]

Getting rid of it means removing what little shipbuilding capacity we have left.

US ships are more expensive mainly because there's no economy of scale: East Asian shipyards became large through government policies and subsidies. Yet, amazingly!, no one in China, SK, or Japan complains about the "economic inefficiency."

What we should do is offer low interest loans to build shipyards here and start requiring that an increasing percentage of ships importing to the US be US built and manned.

Unless your only interest is as an importer looking to make a quick buck before US wages fall to Third World levels, which seems to be almost all of the US business class.

[DIRTYSECRET]

I could see Korea and Japan building the shells of the ships. The either work or they don’t-that means sink. I wouldn’t trust the Chinese welds. What that means afterwards is beyond me.

[Alberta's Child]

That’s exactly right. The term used in the industry is called cabotage — the transport of passengers or cargo between domestic points by a foreign carrier. Most countries in the world outlaw it. That’s why you can fly a foreign airline between New York and Europe, but not between New York and Los Angeles.

Cabotage is effectively outlawed for most transport modes in the U.S. The Jones Act is basically the maritime version of this restriction.

[Alberta's Child]

I can’t think of a single origin-destination pair in the continental U.S. where it would be faster to move freight on a ship than on a truck or train.

[MeanWestTexan]

“can’t think of a single origin-destination pair in the continental U.S. where it would be faster to move freight on a ship than on a truck or train.”

A typical tanker holds 3,000,000 bbl.
A truck holds 150 bbls.
You’d need 20,000 trucks to haul one load.
And then they’d deadhead back empty.

I doubt there are 20,000 crude haulers in the USA.

Tank cars are not much better.