Bloomberg Businessweek: U.S. Law Restricting Foreign Ships Leads to Higher Gas Prices

“When a container ship full of bicycles and sleeper sofas leaves China for the U.S., it would make sense for it to stop in Hawaii to unload cargo bound for that state before continuing to Los Angeles or Seattle. It’d make sense, but it’s illegal. Under a 93-year-old U.S. law, the Jones Act, only U.S.-made, U.S.-flagged ships can travel between U.S. ports. If it stopped in Hawaii, the ship would have to go all the way back to China before returning to the U.S. As a result, Chinese-made goods sold in Hawaii are routinely unloaded on the West Coast and reloaded onto another ship for the 2,500-mile trip back to the island state .. . . Poten & Partners, a New York-based maritime consulting firm, estimates the average amount it costs to charter a Jones Act tanker is up 87 percent over the past year and a half, to a record of more than $85,000 a day.”