Helton: Jones Act waiver data shows law restricts domestic trade
from Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
A federal waiver of the century-old Jones Act has opened up shipping opportunities that would otherwise not exist, which Grassroot policy analyst Jonathan Helton said demonstrates that targeted reform could significantly lower costs and reduce imports without harming domestic carriers.
Helton spoke with H. Hawaii Media radio host Johnny Miro on Sunday to break down his recent Jones Act commentary that was published in The Hill earlier this month, headlined “Jones Act waiver period disproves China fearmongering, shows benefits of reform.”
He explained that the waiver, which has been allowing non-Jones Act vessels to transport fuel and fertilizer between U.S. ports since March, has generated vital real-world data showing “a lot more demand for buying American products.”
For Hawaii, a large shipment of propane traveling under the waiver supplied slightly more than half of the state’s needs so far this year — a significant delivery, Helton said, because no Jones Act vessels in existence could have completed it.
Helton emphasized that allowing ships to transport goods between American ports when no equivalent vessel exists in the Jones Act fleet would not take business away from any American companies. An extreme example, he said, is that some Hawaii ranchers fly their calves to the mainland by plane because there are no domestic cattle carrier ships.
Addressing frequent arguments surrounding national security and foreign competition, Helton dismissed concerns regarding China as a “distraction,” noting that only 3% of the waiver voyages have involved Chinese-owned ships.
And regarding security safeguards and foreign vessel reliability, Helton said that “a conversation about what level of restriction there needs to be is probably reasonable … but the fact of the matter is, foreign ships come here already, and by and large, they’re pretty reliable; and you don’t have massive security threats; so reforming the Jones Act isn’t likely to increase any of that.”
He also pointed out that the waiver data shows “reform doesn’t have to be all or nothing.” For instance, he said repealing the law’s requirement that goods travel between U.S. ports on American-built ships would mean that U.S. carriers no longer need “to purchase ships that cost two to three times more than comparable vessels built abroad — a cost that gets passed to consumers.”
As the temporary waiver approaches its Nov. 15 expiration date, Helton expressed hope that federal lawmakers develop a growing interest in permanently reforming the law.