The Jones Act
One of the Impediments to assisting Puerto Rico is the famous Jones Act, originally known as The Merchant Marine Act of 1920.
The Jones Act requires that shipments between two US seaports travel only on US-flagged vessels, built in US shipyards, with American owners and crews.
The original reason was to ensure the US kept a viable commercial shipping industry in case of war. World War I had just ended, so this need was evident at the time. Moreover, the act helped Seattle-based shipping lines pick up Alaskan freight business. (The Jones of the Jones Act was a legislator from Seattle.)
Today, the Jones Act gives a few US companies a legally enforced monopoly on cargo between the mainland US and Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
A 2012 New York Fed study found it costs twice as much to ship a freight container from the US East Coast to Puerto Rico than to nearby Haiti. And, as always, monopoly shows up in higher prices---for Puerto Ricans and other ports. More, it requires the unnecessary and redundant off-loading of ships bound for Puerto Rico in some intermediate designated rentier port so they can be reloaded by the designated rentier workmen on to the appropriate, designated rentier ship.
The original reason was to ensure the US kept a viable commercial shipping industry in case of war. World War I had just ended, so this need was evident at the time. Moreover, the act helped Seattle-based shipping lines pick up Alaskan freight business. (The Jones of the Jones Act was a legislator from Seattle.)
Today, the Jones Act gives a few US companies a legally enforced monopoly on cargo between the mainland US and Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
A 2012 New York Fed study found it costs twice as much to ship a freight container from the US East Coast to Puerto Rico than to nearby Haiti. And, as always, monopoly shows up in higher prices---for Puerto Ricans and other ports. More, it requires the unnecessary and redundant off-loading of ships bound for Puerto Rico in some intermediate designated rentier port so they can be reloaded by the designated rentier workmen on to the appropriate, designated rentier ship.
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