Jones Act

As the country marches on toward reshoring there are regulations and laws that could be changed to make this transition more efficient. One of the lesser known rules is what is commonly called the Jones Act. The Merchant Marine Act of 1920. This Act was designed to restrict shipping to vessels that are US built, owned, flagged and staffed. The original purpose was to maintain US ship building capacity but that is no longer needed as ship building is both a private and public business. When foreign ships arrive at US ports they must transfer cargo to US ships before it can move to other location. This is time consumer and inefficient and adds cost to shipping.