American News- An obscure shipping law that some say is stalling Puerto Rico’s recovery
Channel: American News
Date: 2017-09-28

American News - All about the Jones Act, an obscure shipping law that some say is stalling Puerto Rico’s recovery
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This post has been updated with comments from a congressman who will be holding an emergency hearing Thursday aimed at defending the Jones Act, which shipping advocates say is not the reason Puerto Rico's recovery has stalled. 
In the wake of Hurricane Maria, pretty much the entire island of Puerto Rico is dark, hot and running out of supplies — quickly. Because it's an island, many lifesaving supplies will arrive by boat.
But Puerto Rico has to wait until American boats can reach its shores with supplies because of an obscure, World War I-era shipping law that the Trump administration is refusing to waive.
Trump's decision to keep the Jones Act in place is also feeding into a narrative that the president is aloof to Puerto Rico's problems. His administration lifted the Jones Act to help Texas and Florida after hurricanes Harvey in August and Irma this month. (Supporters of the Jones Act say the thinking within the shipping industry is that the Trump administration lifted the Jones Act after Hurricane Harvey before it was necessary, and Florida only needed a little bit of help from foreign-owned ships.)
Meanwhile, despite agitation from powerful members in Congress to get rid of the law entirely so we don't keep having these debates after hurricanes, it's likely to stay on the books.
Here's what you need to know about the Jones Act.
What the Jones Act does: It requires that ships going from American coast to American coast be American — built, owned, flagged and crewed. That means goods going from the mainland to Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Alaska and Guam, or even from Texas to New England, have to travel on U.S. ships, even if they're not the most economical transport or readily available.
Why that matters to hurricane relief: Foreign ships in nearby countries can’t zoom over to Puerto Rico with aid supplies. Only U.S. ships can.
“A foreign relief shipment to Puerto Rico, they have two choices,” said Scott Miller, an international trade expert with the Center for Strategic & International Studies. “One is to land in San Juan and pay tariffs associated with the Jones Act, or to take shipments to Jacksonville, offload the ship and reload it on a U.S. one.”
Update: David Lewis, vice president of Manchester Trade Ltd., said foreign ships leaving U.S. ports can't even enter other U.S. ports under the Jones Act. "The Coast Guard won't let them," he said. 
Puerto Rican officials have long despised the law, arguing that it makes their food and goods much more expensive than on the mainland. Politicians in Hawaii have argued that ranchers have even resorted to flying cows to the mainland rather than shipping them. Other opponents of the law say it forces New Englanders to pay more for propane, holds up salt supplies to clear snowstorms in New Jersey and raises electricity rates in Florida.
Its supporters say there is no evidence that the Jones Act leaves shortages of actual ships arriving in a disaster, and until recently it wasn't lifted routinely in natural disasters. Lewis said that most fuel comes through foreign ships, so lifting the Jones Act wouldn't help Puerto Rico much anyway.
Te Department of Homeland Security said that getting more fuel to the island wouldn't address its main problem, which is ports damaged by the storm. Plus, barges would deliver humanitarian relief, which make up a large part of U.S.-flagged ships, the agency said.
Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), who represents North California, said that to the best of his understanding, ships arriving are not the problem, but rather the ability to transport what their bringing.
"The problem is not that the containers [of aid and fuel] are not arriving in Puerto Rico," he told The Fix, "it's that they're not getting off the dock."
He said 6,000 U.S. cargo ships are en route or already at Puerto Rico with supplies that are estimated to deliver some 5 million tons of aid. He and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) plan to hold an emergency hearing Thursday morning on how deliveries are arriving in Puerto Rico via U.S. ships.
Why the law exists: Congress passed the Merchant Marine Act in 1920, after World War I, when Congress was worried that the U.S. shipping industry was weak — too weak to, say,  fight with German submarines that had sunk hundreds of U.S. ships.
Why the law still exists: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has been leading the charge to get rid of it. It's antiquated, it hinders free trade and it makes goods more expensive, he argues.
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