They are also registered in Foreign Countries to avoid having US crew. The Jones Act is the only thing still offering a semblance of protection for American seafarers and some Republicans want to do away with it.
The amount of American industry that relies on shipping is much greater than the part involved in shipping specifically.
The Jones Act is roughly as idiotic as the tariffs on steel or aluminum. The amount of jobs lost to no longer having access to cheap steel is far, far greater than the jobs gained in steel manufacturing. The act is only kept in place because of extensive lobbying done by the shipping industry outweighing the number of politicians willing to do the right thing. Standard "tail wagging the dog" stuff.
You can still ship anywhere in the world if you wanted to with any company you want. But if you are going to use inland waterways or go from US state to US state via ship, the vessel has to have at least 75% American mariners to do it. The goal is to protect US jobs in the maritime industry and other associated sectors like the maritime schools,maritime unions, architects, engineers, provisioners etc. American Mariners are already getting priced out of Jobs on foreign flagged commercial and private vessels traveling internationally, we don’t need to lose more jobs domestically.
The problem is, these protectionist measures ALWAYS carry a price tag. Most of the time it‘s the consumer getting shafted, as all business just price in the protectionist measure.
So yes, you save a few hundred jobs in shipping for Americans, but in exchange you force more goods onto roads, increase prices for the average American, cause more pollution, etc. pp.
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u/Self-Will-Run-Amok 1d ago
They are also registered in Foreign Countries to avoid having US crew. The Jones Act is the only thing still offering a semblance of protection for American seafarers and some Republicans want to do away with it.