Rep Ed Case talking in House previously this month (Source: YouTube/C-Span).
Rep Ed Case (D-Hawaii) has actually presented 3 costs in Congress that would certainly make considerable modifications to the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (normally described as the “Jones Act”).
The Jones Act mandates that all freight delivery in between united state ports take place specifically on united state- flagged vessels, integrated in the united state and also had and also crewed by united state residents.
“My three bills aim directly at one of the key drivers of our astronomically high cost of living in Hawaii and other locations in our country that are not part of the continental U.S,” claimedCase “Because the Jones Act severely limits the supply of shipping to and from our communities, it has allowed a very few companies to control our very lifeline to the outside world and as a result command shipping rates way higher than the rest of the world.”
Case’s 3 actions and also their recommended changes to the Jones Act are:
- the Noncontiguous Shipping Relief Act, which would certainly spare all noncontiguous united state places, consisting of Hawaii, from the Jones Act;
- the Noncontiguous Shipping Reasonable Rate Act, which criteria the interpretation of a “reasonable rate” which residential carriers can bill as no greater than 10 percent above worldwide delivery prices for equivalent courses; and also
- the Noncontiguous Shipping Competition Act, which retracts the Jones Act anywhere syndicates or duopolies in noncontiguous Jones Act delivery create.
ASSISTANCE FROM CARRIERS’ COUNCIL
“The Hawaii Shippers’ Council welcomes Representative Case’s introduction of important new Jones Act reform legislation in the Congress to directly benefit the noncontiguous jurisdictions of the United States,” claimed Michael N. (“Mike”) Hansen, President of the Hawaii Shippers’Council “The Jones Act has made the domestic United States maritime industry the most expensive in the world and its burden falls most heavily on the noncontiguous jurisdictions embraced by the Act due to their complete reliance on ocean shipping for interstate surface transportation.”
MATSON REACTS
Hawaii- headquartered Jones Act driver Matson (NYSE: MATX), provided this remark:
Hanging Hawaii’s greater expenses of surviving on delivery disregards what neighborhood financial experts and also reporters have actually continually discovered throughout the years, which is that delivery expenses are simply among numerous price variables that enter into neighborhood rates of durable goods and also stand for a little portion of cost distinctions in between Hawaii and also the landmass.
The factor the Jones Act has actually had such solid bi-partisan assistance in every Congress and also management in modern-day times is due to the fact that it is very important to homeland safety and also nationwide protection, in addition to the safety of solution to remote areas like Hawaii and also Alaska, from a financial perspective. The value of having the ability to rely upon important supply line transport is simple to consider provided however tough to overemphasize.
The Jones Act additionally sustains greater than 650,000 tasks in the united state, consisting of thousands right here in Hawaii.
