dante662 t1_iuj81n5 wrote
Reply to comment by itsonlyastrongbuzz in New England Utility Urges Biden to Declare Emergency to Avoid Fuel Shortage by Nobiting
The Jones ACt was supposed to "protect the american shipping industry". Instead, it destroyed it.
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It's illegal to ship port-to-port within the USA if the ship isn't:
A) built in the USA
B) Financed in the USA
C) Flagged in the USA
D) Crewed by americans
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Because of this, Hawaii, Alaska, etc have staggering prices because an international cargo vessel heading from China to, say, Long Beach, cannot first stop at Hawaii and then continue to LA. In fact if it goes to LA it can't then go back to Hawaii.
We have almost no merchant marine in this country and the shipping we do have is outrageously expensive. Killing this stupid Act is one of many things we need to have done decades ago, but won't, because "muh jobs".
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Spoiler alert: international maritime shipping has almost no American presence whatsoever. The jobs are already gone. We should at least stop paying extra for no reason.
SilentR0b t1_iujiwik wrote
Maybe I'm too cynical but I just have that feeling even if we repeal the act, they'll still keep the prices $$.
dante662 t1_iujkf0q wrote
You immediately gain economies of scale. The massive international cargo haulers can suddenly stop at Puerto Rico on the way to Miami.
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Instead we have to unload the cargo from the supermax ships, reload it onto tiny american merchant ships, then sail it back to the island. Not only does this add costs because of delays (it can add weeks to delivery times) but unnecessarily burns fuel.
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You can also send emergency supplies much easier. In fact one of the reasons PR keeps getting insane delays on supplies after storms is because the government has to wait until the feds temporarily waive the jones act to send help, because we have effectively no merchant marine anymore.
Skippypal t1_iujk2ye wrote
Basically what big oil is doing with gas currently.
Cutriss t1_iujrvrw wrote
Incidentally, do you have any idea what country holds most of those maritime jobs that the Jones Act pushed out of the US?
It’s Ukraine.
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