Hacker News Reader

Comment by pg_bot | Hacker News Reader

Or we could get rid of the Jones act and just move freight by ship instead of driving it long distances.

If the Jones act was repealed, wouldn't everyone just ditch the American ship registration and choose a country with lower taxes, less safety standards, and lower crew wages?

I first learned about the Jones act while reading about cruise ship port destinations (since most cruise ships have flags of convenience, a notable exception being the cruise ship based out of Hawaii for Hawaiian ports).

The big restriction is using only American built ships (which we don't make anymore). You can keep the American flagged/crewed restriction and it would still significantly change the dynamics of shipping.

The big shipping companies are still European but their ships are built in Asia and crewed with whoever is cheapest.

Its a relentlessly efficient industry and I don't think a lot of Westerners are willing to spend an entire year on a cargo ship. The Jones act is actually an admission that the US cannot compete.

Can you elaborate? What is the Jones act and how do you move freight by ship across a continental land mass?

The Jones act restricts ship traffic between US ports solely to US-flagged vessels dramatically reducing competition and increasing costs, and you move freight by ship across a continent with rivers and canals

Is anyone really going to move coal by barge via the Mississippi on a foreign flagged vessel if the Jones act didn’t exist? And if so, how could that be cheaper unless they were cutting scary amounts of corners no sane person would want them to cut?

>unless they were cutting scary amounts of corners no sane person would want them to cut?

This doesn't stop nearly as many people/companies as much as I wish it would.

I think the issue is more that you can’t ship between Florida and New York either with a foreign ship.

This prevents someone from say dropping off all their goods in Miami, then letting a British liner pick them up later and drop half off in NYC, and the other half in London.

Instead you have to either ship it yourself to NYC and Miami, or you have to send it by train to NYC from Miami.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com