Comment by elihu
1 day ago
> Very little of the shipping industry is US-flagged.
That's true for international shipping, but for shipping between U.S. ports, the ships have to be U.S. flagged due to the Jones act.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Marine_Act_of_1920
I agree though that focusing on small U.S. flagged ships is not very representative of shipping in general.
There is very little shipping between us ports. Not zero, but not much.
Speculation: this system propped up by the long-distance trucking lobby.
Longshoreman's union "touch fees" reportedly have a lot to do with it:
https://capitalresearch.org/article/what-you-need-to-know-ab...
https://twitter.com/johnkonrad/status/1840904466310316459
" it’s somehow cheaper to truck containers hundreds of miles and let taxpayers foot the road repair bill than let the union touch it two more times for short sea shipping to work."
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The Jones act goes back to before the existence of long distance trucking, and has so many interested parties just on the maritime side that it will take a shift in world order for it to change.
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I can believe that.