Criticism of the Jones Act is based on on old myths and ignores the law's important benefits for Hawaii and our country. Arguments for opening Hawaii-mainland shipping routes to foreign carriers usually start by citing the Jones Act's supposedly enormous impact on our cost of living. To determine the true size of that impact Mercer Management Consulting, Inc., completed a cost breakdown study last year. It found that shipping accounts for a small portion of the cost of goods in Hawaii. Objective analysis shows the Jones Act to be a minor factor in the Hawaii-mainland cost of living differential.
Critics overlook the important benefits of the Jones Act.
Resulting capacity fluctuations would be devastating to our island state. Our now dependable shipping would be under the control of whatever foreign government was most willing to subsidize its shipping. We could find Hawaii-mainland shipping routes under the control of a hostile nation. All that would evaporate as quickly as the Stars and Stripes would disappear from the world's oceans. The Jones Act is now the sole guarantee of the continued existence of an American merchant marine and shipbuilding industry.