{"id":11709,"date":"2022-05-07T05:35:56","date_gmt":"2022-05-07T15:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=11709"},"modified":"2022-05-09T16:54:14","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T02:54:14","slug":"shipping-security-just-another-jones-act-myth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2022\/05\/07\/shipping-security-just-another-jones-act-myth\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Shipping security\u2019 just another Jones Act myth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by Mark Coleman<\/em>

<\/strong>Hawaii residents have been hearing over and over in recent months that the 1920 federal maritime law known as the Jones Act provides Hawaii with \u201cshipping security.\u201dBut it ain\u2019t necessarily so.In a new article published by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii,\u00a0\u201c\u2019Shipping security\u2019 more Jones Act shibai,\u201d\u00a0research associate\u00a0Jonathan Helton\u00a0looked into that claim and found it to just another of the\u00a0many myths\u00a0that Jones Act supporters have been touting to keep afloat their favorite piece of special-interest legislation.

Helton wrote that Jones Act supporters have tried to buttress their \u201cshipping security\u201d claim by pointing to the recent port congestion along the US West Coast, where scores of ships were just sitting offshore, in some cases for weeks, waiting to unload their cargoes.

Meanwhile, shipping between the West Coast and Hawaii was mostly smooth sailing, with Jones Act supporters alleging it was because of the Jones Act, which restricts shipping competition between US ports to only ships that are US flagged and built, and mostly owned and crewed by Americans.

Apples-and-oranges comparison
<\/strong>Helton, however, determined that,\u00a0\u201cComparing the Hawaii-mainland trade to the Asia-West Coast trade\u2026 is not an apples-to-apples comparison.\u201d\u00a0Among the differences:

– <\/strong>Last year, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach hit their highest cargo volumes ever. In 2021, LA and Long Beach each received more than 900 containerships, while only 248 visited Hawaii.

– The containerships visiting LA and Long Beach were much larger on average than those stopping in Hawaii: 75,899 and 82,925 gross tons, respectively, versus about half that size, 41,500 gross tons, for Hawaii.

– LA and Long Beach handle about 40% of the country\u2019s freight, while Honolulu accounts for only a tiny fraction. In addition, Hawaii\u2019s import volumes actually fell during the year due to the drop in tourism.

Meanwhile, West Coast harbors\u00a0have experienced\u00a0of shortages of trucking and rail capacity to move out the cargo that has already been offloaded.So yes, Helton wrote, \u201cHawaii has managed to avoid most of the supply-chain logjam.\u201d But, again, not because of the Jones Act.

The not-so unique ‘dedicated terminals’<\/strong>Helton also tackled the argument put forth by Matson and Pasha \u2014 the two Jones Act carriers that dominate the West Coast-Hawaii market \u2014 that their \u201cdedicated terminals\u201d\u00a0have protected Hawaii from shipping delays and logistics hurdles.

Such port terminals, however, also have nothing to do with the Jones Act.\u00a0Nor are they unique, as claimed by Matson. Foreign shipping lines own several terminals across the country. At the Port of Los Angeles, for example, Danish shipping giant Maersk owns APM Terminals\u2019 Pier 400.

Jones Act carriers never delayed?
<\/strong>Then there is the argument that Jones Act ships serving Hawaii\u00a0\u201cnever, never get delayed,\u201d as a top executive with the Hawaii Pilots Association recently stated.

In response, Helton listed examples of cargo ships being delayed for all sorts of reasons, whether mechanical, environmental or political, including the long strike by US dockworkers\u00a0in\u00a01970\u00a0that led to many product shortages in Hawaii.

\u201cIn the near future,\u201d Helton wrote, \u201cthere\u2019s the possibility of another maritime labor disruption, since the International Longshore and Warehouse Union\u2019s contract with the Pacific Maritime Association, a maritime employer representative,\u00a0ends in July 2022.\u201d

If the union does go on strike and includes Hawaii, the Jones Act will have no say in how the negotiations turn out.

Foreign-flagged ships aren’t reliable?<\/strong>
\u201cFinally,\u201d Helton noted, \u201camid all the debate over the reliability of Jones Act carriers, it is important to remember that Hawaii is heavily dependent on international ocean carriers as well.

In fact, foreign-flagged vessels account for the majority of tonnage brought to Hawaii, including more than 23 million barrels of crude oil. If these foreign ships were so unreliable, why would Hawaii businesses ever use them?

\u201cBy some metrics,\u201d he said, \u201ctheir service is superior to that of Jones Act carriers, as foreign ships are often\u00a0newer and offer lower shipping costs.\u201cMoreover, as international events have recently emphasized, the Jones Act is actually a threat to Hawaii\u2019s energy security, since the added costs of using Jones Act carriers to ship crude to Hawaii from US sources have incentivized the state to become almost wholly dependent on foreign oil imports.\u201d

‘Shipping security’ just another Jones Act myth<\/strong>Ultimately, Helton wrote, \u201cthe Jones Act has nothing to do with Hawaii\u2019s \u2018shipping security,’ nor the ‘dedicated terminals’\u00a0of its primary Jones Act carriers.\u201dHe concluded:

\u201cLike so many other claims in favor of the Jones Act \u2014 that it provides 650,000 American jobs, protects US shipbuilding and national security, contributes to economic growth, provides benefits without affecting consumer prices, keeps foreign ships from traversing America\u2019s inland waterways, protects America against terrorism, is a bulwark against China, and so on \u2014 this argument about the Jones Act providing Hawaii with \u201cshipping security\u201d is just another myth that needs to be sent to Davy Jones\u2019 Locker.\u201d

MARK COLEMAN<\/strong> is managing editor and communications director for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. Jonathan Helton\u2019s article can be viewed by visiting the institute\u2019s website at www.grassrootinstitute.org.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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