The Obscure Law that Killed U.S. Maritime Shipping

Such a wasteful country.

Paying citizens and companies keeps the money in the US. What happened to the America First crowd….short term greed overrides that

Greed killed the shipping. Why not build and flag ships in our own country. It’s that simple

they did not kill us marine he was usa terrorist i think u guys dont know outside usa s[ecially in saudi asia ur army is known as terorist

Its strategic, without it all ships would be chinese.

Some US laws are just so cartoonishly protectionist/anti free market

the big negative I didn't hear you mention is all the seafarer jobs that will be lost to far cheaper foreign labor from countries like the Philippines

This is probably one of the most misleading videos I’ve seen on the Jones Act. Shipowners don’t have their ships in the US because of the Jones Act. They have them built in foreign countries like South Korea and China because those countries massively subsidize their ship building industries that enable them to produce a product that is substantially cheaper that what could be built in the US. This completely unfair competitive advantage makes it appear the US built ships are expensive. If Chinese and Korean shipbuilders didn’t have all the cheap loans and controlled labor that they have, their products would me much more expensive.

The Government of Puerto Rico has been for decades, protesting the Jones Act. It has fallen of the aging, deaf ears of Congress. This has to change. Support the repeal of the Jones Act, or modify the Act to make sense.

I've found no other people that talk about this
Yet when i search the exact topic your video talks about
Your video didn't show up.

Excellent! Thank you!

So by trying to protect an industry the US effectively let market competitors take over this huge industry. What I don’t understand is why the law is not just voted out of existence. Is it because it will destroy thousands of jobs in the road transportation industry? On the contrary the US would get a much more efficient internal market which is good for everybody producing and selling goods on the domestic market, create lots of jobs in the harbors and perhaps even let the US become a still small but a bit larger player in international ocean transport which would be an overall positive for the economy.

Protectionism makes no economic sense, and yet one of the most capitalistic countries in the world decided to try it out!?

i love this channel

The Jones Act MUST be repealed!!!

Uhhh… It’s not a “climatic spectrum”, but a “climate spectrum”.

Uhhh… Cows are FEMALE cattle. Are you saying that all of those cattle on the ranch in Hawaii are females???

After watching this video and reading an article by an economist defending the Jones Act, it's clear the law needs an overhaul. Even people who defend it admit it's far from perfect.

Stuff like this is why EVERY law or act should have a fixed and mandatory expiration say 20 years and must fully expire and be rewritten before the possibility of reenactment and a word limit on laws no cheating and saying all in favor of maintaining the status quo and

Many inconvenient facts left out... For instance, China, South Korea, and Japan all significantly subsidize their shipbuilding industries. In the mean time, the US Congress has totally neglected the US merchant fleet. In fact, Congress is costing us Billions by not adequately maintaining both the maritime and US Navy fleets. The Jones Act certainly needs to be modernized, but it’s main aim is still vital to the military. What good is all that equipment if we cant get it to a potential war zone?

What can I do?

I believe the Jones act made getting disaster relief to PR difficult after hurricane Maria!

Solution: Instead of requiring companies to use american built ships exclusively, require 15% of the fleet of domestic shipping companies to be american built ships. This reduces the dependency on foreign shipping and essentially super charges domestic shipping demand. If you want to use cheap foreign ships, you gotta prop up the domestic ship building market too. It is expensive, yes, but way less expensive than the current system and essentially subsidizes a very expensive domestic market.

Sad part is, democracy is advertised as giving people the ability to change the politics, but stuff like this is almost impossible to change

Seems misleading to not mention the coastline amd terrain of much of Europe makes shipping via boat more advantageous than in America

Americans products is more expensive bc it actually last alot longer than china products of anything

The US isn't the top beef consuming country per capita. That's Argentina.

A cool follow on to this would be to study how Alaska's native landholder corporations work. Especially North Slope Burrow and NANA

That is the stupidest American law ever.

I feel like every single law should have an expiry date. If it doesn't seem to be working, or if it's pointless, then it should just get scrapped. Quit this ridiculous patchwork loophole swiss cheese bullshit.

I am passionate about the maritime world, and I observed a curious fact, that among all the largest shipping companies in the world, there is no one is American, just the same the Americans who like be the first and stand out in everything, how can they stay out of such an important market that moves trillions in money, congratulations for the video, there really is a lot of information about this important market that does not appear for the mainstrean public, best regards from Brazil!!! 🇧🇷♥️🇺🇲

The Jones Act is one of the dumbest laws America still has on the books. I've heard many a presentation on this and am glad to thumbs up another video spreading awareness of it. It is a law of PURE self-dealing corruption. When it was passed, America was one of the world leaders in shipbuilding. The protectionism lead to US shipyards becoming inefficient and noncompetitive. This didn't happen because the US couldn't build ships competitively. It happened because protectionism almost ALWAYS leads to the stagnation of the protected industry. You can see it in US steel as well where US steel mills are outdated and unproductive and cry for more protectionism every few years.

That's your plan? Letting foreign firms to take control of the internal shipping market?

You won't get more cargo, but you will get less domestic production and more foreign control.
What a shill you are

The main question I had watching this, and I’m annoyed that it didn’t get addressed is “why does no-one build ships in the US?” If labor costs are cheaper in Japan and Korea, they can’t be much cheaper, and clearly they’re building cargo ships over there.

It’s so strange that even though we have this protectionist law, nobody is building the ships.

As someone from Hawaii, thank you for shining a light on this issue. This law inflates our already expensive cost of goods and has contributed to so many people leaving our state.

The Grassroot Institute in Hawaii did an in-depth study on the impacts of the Jones Act on Hawaii’s economy.

And finally, it’s important to note that not only do certain corporate interests support the Jones Act, but also union interests.

Only the USA the "motherland of capitalism and free markets" could shoot itself on the foot so badly

What actually 'killed' American shipping was the allowance of US companies to reflag their ships to flags of convenience in order to avoid paying US taxes, cut labor costs at the expense of safety and accountability. If American shipowners and companies reflagged their vessels back to the American flag, then these points that are brought up would be moot. Many more jobs would be created and short sea shipping between American ports would increase exponentially. Foreign flagged ships cause the vast majority of maritime accidents and cost the lives of many vulnerable seamen, most from third world countries.

Humans are absurd sometimes... We know what causes issues, when know how they can be fixed, but it doesn't improve because someone said so.

Using old, dilapidated tug boats and ferries as the last line of military defense is like enlisting a draft for war from nursing homes..

Ps, if it came down to that we would already be screwed

The Jones Act results in most ships most are registered in foreign countries and not US

Government is rarely the solution but almost always the problem.

As a merchant mariner and a US citizen, my opinion is the Jones act is extremely important. Not only does it keep foreign vessels from undercutting us but allows us to earn a decent living as merchant marines. On top of that it is the only thing keeping our shipyards in business and creating lots of good paying jobs. If the Jones act was repealed we would all be out of work tomorrow. The foreign tugs, barges, and ships would put all our Americans out of work overnight! Seriously the Jones act is extremely important and probably the best law we have! The only problem is we don’t have more laws like it!

I must add there are plenty of ATBs and offshore tugs and barges like I work on that travel up and down the coasts and to places like Puerto Rico and Hawaii. If the Jones act was repealed we would be out of work as foreign vessels pay the crews less then half what a US flagged vessel does. Sure it costs more to hire a US flagged vessel but that money not only goes to the crew but also to all the land based jobs from US shipyards and workers including welders, fitters, electricians, crane operators, ect to office jobs such as lawyers, accounts, naval architects, ect. We need the Jones Act it keeps a large portion of us employed either directly or indirectly.

I think its important to remember that one of the primary reasons why ships are not registered in the US is that the US has (relatively) fair and equitable labor laws, which necessitate a much higher labor cost- which is one of the primary drivers of the costs of shipping vis-a-vis choosing to flag a ship in, say, Panama vs in the US.

It is not all about protectionism for US owned shipping companies (which CAN flag their ships wherever they choose in order to, for example, take advantage of exploitative labor laws, which, I think, is a great argument, from an ethical perspective, to require intra-US shipping to be carried by US flagged ships... it is obviously far from optimal. I personally think that the UN needs to step up with some very basic requirements for the rights of the people employed in trans national shipping, which is, still, incredibly exploitative- its similar to any migrant workers- just abused on the ocean instead of on incredibly horrific factory farms, etc.)

I'm just suggesting that the issue isnt as dimensionally limited as this video suggests. (Though, to be fair, it would take hours to cover the entire issue- even though it SHOULD have been mentioned here!)

Hawaiian beef has a special reputation, that, tbh, I think is justified (even if the price may not be) I went to a large ranch and their restaurant on the Big Island, which may have been Parker, I'm not sure) and it was excellent...

That's kinda O/t, but, maybe worth mentioning, imo. If yet going to visit the islands, it's worth a trip, imo.

So this is a hard thing for most people outside the maritime industry to understand. The Johns act is making sure that our already overlooked maritime sector has a chance in the domestic market because most international trade is done cheaper by companies that don't care for things like safety or in many cases international law. There is a lot more to why the act is needed then that but that would take a lot of focus to understand a text blurb doesn't really work for that standard.

You only need ships in war if attacking a foreign land - lol - why not stop your wars and leave the world to be more peaceful

good information! thanks