Press Releases

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Representative Ed Case (Hawai‘i-First) made the following comments on President Trump’s order today of a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act for shipping between U.S. ports of oil, natural gas, fertilizer and other energy commodities:

“President Trump’s waiver of the Jones Act is a no-brainer response to rapid increases in gas and other fossil fuel products from severe disruptions in international energy markets resulting from the Iran war.

“That we even have to waive the Jones Act to try to hold down skyrocketing fuel and other energy costs is a blanket admission of the Jones Act’s crippling effects on our economy, especially Hawai‘i and the other non-continent parts of our country (island territories and Alaska) that are wholly dependent on shipping.”

The Jones Act, a century-old federal maritime law, mandates that all cargo shipped between U.S. ports can only be shipped on U.S.-flagged vessels. Meanwhile, the vast majority of international-flagged vessels doing worldwide shipping are excluded from doing so. Additionally, with the number of oceangoing Jones Act vessels now well less than 100 country-wide, scarce and declining domestic shipping faces no competition from international shipping, driving up shipping prices nationwide.

This effect is especially severe for places like Hawai‘i which depend exclusively on shipping for over 90% of our goods, and where Jones Act shipping companies have developed virtual monopolies over a captive market and charge some of the highest shipping rates in the world. These are all passed down to Hawai‘i businesses and families as one of the primary drivers of our unacceptable high cost of living. A 2020 study estimated the cost of the Jones Act (the difference between high costs from the Jones Act monopoly passed down, and costs if shipping between Hawai‘i and the continent was open to the competition of international shipping) at almost $650 per year for each Hawai‘i resident.

Hawai‘i remains heavily dependent on fossil fuel products – crude oil, refined fuel and natural gas for energy and transportation, fertilizer for agriculture, and others – all of which must be shipped into Hawai‘i. Yet because the Jones Act restricts shipments of energy commodities from the continent, in normal periods Hawai‘i ends up sourcing most of its essential resources from foreign markets, where shipping is far cheaper. The constraints are stark: of the nearly 7,500 oil tankers operating worldwide, just 54 are Jones Act-compliant and permitted to ship fossil fuel products from the continent to Hawai‘i. Among oceangoing dry bulk vessels ideally suited for transporting fertilizer, not a single one qualifies.

As a result, despite being part of the United States, which is a net fossil fuel exporter, Hawai‘i normally sources only a small share of its energy from the continent. In 2024, just 16% of the oil used for electricity generation came from the continent, all carried on higher-cost Jones Act vessels, while the overwhelming majority was imported from abroad at lower cost.

However, the Iran war has disrupted these normal operations in numerous ways that further affect Hawai‘i negatively. First, international oil distribution and supply has been disrupted and countries that are normally exporting product are holding their product home for domestic supplies, requiring Hawai’i to rely far more heavily on domestic fossil fuel products. Second, the domestic Jones Act tanker fleet is devoted elsewhere and largely not available to transport substantially increased fuel supplies from the continent to Hawai‘i.

The President’s 60-day waiver temporarily lifts the Jones Act restrictions for shipments of energy commodities from the continent to Hawai‘i, thus allowing international shipping to continue domestic supply shipping to Hawai‘i.

“President Trump’s Jones Act waiver is important to maintain fuel imports to Hawai’i at a time when we must rely far more on domestic supply while the capacity of domestic shipping has declined, and it certainly shines a high-beam spotlight on the crippling effects of the Jones Act on the cost of living for island and other non-continent parts of our country,” said Case.

“But make no mistake: That alone will not reduce prices; it will just mitigate further increases the longer these disruptions continue. It is the President’s war in Iran itself that is the overall driver of huge increases in gas, electricity, food and other costs to Hawai‘i families because of the disruption in both international energy supplies and worldwide shipping.”

In the current 119^th Congress, Case again introduced legislation to reform the Jones Act and open up Hawai‘i - continent shipping to international competition. Case’s February 14, 2025, press release on introduction of his current measures is here: https://case.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3520.

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