The Jones Act: Its History, Purposes, Benefits, and Criticisms
Date of Information: 08/25/2026
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Introduction
The Jones Act has shaped American maritime commerce for more than a century. It reserves domestic maritime transportation for qualifying American vessels, supports American shipyards and maritime employment, and reflects a longstanding national policy against depending entirely upon foreign shipping. The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 also established an important federal ship-financing system and strengthened the legal protections available to injured seamen.
The law remains controversial. Supporters describe it as an essential foundation for American shipbuilding, economic security, maritime employment, and military readiness. Critics characterize it as an expensive protectionist measure that restricts competition, increases transportation costs, and has failed to produce a sufficiently large or modern merchant fleet.
Both perspectives contain elements of truth. Understanding the Jones Act requires examining what the law does, the historical circumstances that produced it, the benefits it was designed to secure, and the costs imposed by its restrictions.
What Is the Jones Act?
The term “Jones Act” is used in several related ways. Most commonly, it refers to the coastwise cargo provision originally enacted as Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920. That provision generally requires merchandise transported between American points to travel aboard coastwise-qualified vessels. It is now codified principally at 46 U.S.C. § 55102. The term also refers to Section 33 of the same legislation, which gave qualifying seamen a federal negligence claim against their employers. That provision is now codified at 46 U.S.C. § 30104.
The original Act also created a federal ship-mortgage system whose modern descendant appears principally in Chapter 313 of Title 46. Together, these provisions reflected a comprehensive policy: the United States should maintain an American merchant marine capable of supporting commerce and national defense, establish the financial infrastructure necessary to acquire vessels, and protect the seamen whose labor makes maritime commerce possible.
History of the Jones Act
American Cabotage Laws Before the Jones Act
The Jones Act did not invent the principle that domestic commerce should be reserved for domestic vessels. American cabotage laws date to the beginning of the Republic. “Cabotage” refers to transportation between two points within the same country. In maritime commerce, cabotage laws determine which vessels may transport cargo or passengers between domestic ports.
In 1789, the First Congress used preferential duties to favor American vessels in domestic commerce. In 1817, Congress generally barred foreign vessels from carrying merchandise between American ports.
These policies served both economic and strategic purposes. Congress wanted American commerce carried by American vessels. It also recognized that a nation dependent entirely upon foreign shipping could lose access to transportation during war, diplomatic conflict, or another emergency.
The Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886
In 1886, Congress extended a similar cabotage principle to domestic passenger transportation through what became known as the Passenger Vessel Services Act. That law, now codified at 46 U.S.C. § 55103, generally prohibits a non-coastwise-qualified vessel from transporting passengers between two American points. The Passenger Vessel Services Act and the Jones Act are separate statutes, but they belong to the same family of coastwise laws. The former governs passengers; the latter principally governs merchandise.
The two are frequently confused, particularly in discussions of the cruise industry. Most large cruise ships serving American ports are registered abroad and are not coastwise qualified. Their itineraries are therefore structured to comply with the Passenger Vessel Services Act, often by including a foreign port of call. That is why a cruise between Seattle and Alaska may stop in Canada and why other domestic-looking itineraries include destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean, or elsewhere.
The historical record does not clearly establish that the Jones Act was copied from or specifically inspired by the 1886 passenger statute. The better understanding is that both developed from a common and much older national policy: transportation between American points should ordinarily be performed by qualifying American vessels. Related coastwise restrictions also govern such activities as towing, dredging, fisheries, salvage, and certain oil-spill-response operations. Together, these provisions form a broader American cabotage system.
World War I and the Origins of the Jones Act
The immediate origins of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 lie in the First World War. Transporting American forces and enormous quantities of military equipment to Europe placed extraordinary demands upon the nation’s shipping capacity. The United States depended heavily upon foreign vessels and undertook an emergency shipbuilding program to meet the crisis.
Senator Wesley L. Jones of Washington argued that the prewar absence of adequate American shipping had imposed tremendous costs during mobilization. In his view, cheaper foreign transportation during peacetime had discouraged the development of American capacity, leaving the country scrambling to obtain and construct vessels after war began.
When the war ended, Congress faced two related problems:
how to dispose of or operate the large fleet accumulated by the federal government; and
how to prevent the American maritime industry from contracting once the wartime emergency ended.
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, signed into law on June 5, 1920, was Congress’s answer.
Senator Jones, Protectionism, and the Alaska Trade
Senator Jones, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, promoted the legislation through a combination of national-security and protectionist arguments. Jones maintained that foreign shipping companies would naturally favor their own commercial interests. The United States, he argued, needed American vessels to ensure that American producers could reach markets without depending upon foreign competitors.
Jones also represented Washington State, whose ports and shipping companies had substantial interests in trade with Alaska. Critics have consequently argued that the legislation used national maritime policy to benefit Seattle-based carriers by excluding Canadian competition from the Alaska trade.
The law did disadvantage Canadian carriers and benefit American operators serving Alaska. Regional interests therefore belong in any complete account of the statute’s history.
It would nevertheless be too simplistic to describe the entire Act as nothing more than an attempt to create a Seattle-Alaska shipping monopoly. The national concern about maritime capacity was real, and the Act addressed far more than the Alaska trade. The Merchant Marine Act Was a Comprehensive Maritime Program
The original Merchant Marine Act of 1920 was much broader than the remaining provisions now commonly called the “Jones Act.”
The original legislation addressed:
the disposition and operation of government vessels accumulated during World War I;
sale and charter of vessels to American operators;
restrictions on transfers to foreign owners;
promotion of commercially important shipping routes;
application of coastwise laws to territories and possessions;
competition between railroads and water carriers;
marine insurance;
financing and mortgaging of vessels;
domestic transportation of merchandise; and
remedies for injured and deceased seamen.
Many of those provisions were later repealed, superseded, or recodified elsewhere in federal law. The official compilation of the Act of June 5, 1920 now consists largely of references to subsequent repeals and recodifications.
This article therefore concentrates upon the Act’s three principal continuing legacies:
The coastwise transportation of merchandise;
The federal ship-mortgage and maritime-lien system; and
The negligence remedy provided to qualifying seamen.
Coastwise Commerce Under the Jones Act
The modern coastwise rule generally prohibits the transportation of merchandise between two American points aboard a vessel that is not coastwise qualified. A qualifying vessel generally must be:
built in the United States;
documented under American law;
owned by qualifying American citizens or entities; and
operated by a crew satisfying applicable American-citizenship requirements.
The law applies even when merchandise travels between American points through an intervening foreign port.
Jones Act commerce includes more than conventional container ships and tankers. It encompasses tugboats, barges, offshore-service vessels, and other vessels operating along the coasts, on the Great Lakes, and throughout the inland-waterway system.
The Jones Act does not prohibit foreign vessels from carrying imports into the United States or American exports abroad. A foreign vessel may carry cargo from Europe to New York or from Houston to Asia. What it generally may not do is load merchandise at one American point and transport it to another American point.
Preserving American Control Over Domestic Transportation
The most direct benefit of the coastwise restriction is that domestic maritime transportation remains subject to American control. Maritime carriers transport petroleum, chemicals, agricultural products, construction materials, military cargo, and other essential goods. If foreign vessels dominated this trade, the United States could become dependent upon foreign-controlled carriers for transportation between its own ports.
Foreign carriers may redirect vessels when freight rates increase elsewhere. Flag states may also restrict the availability of vessels during war, sanctions, or diplomatic conflict. A domestic fleet provides continuity and ensures that operators remain subject to American law, regulatory authority, and security requirements.
The Jones Act does not eliminate every supply-chain vulnerability or guarantee that an appropriate vessel will always be available. It does, however, preserve domestic maritime capacity that could otherwise disappear under competition from lower-cost foreign operators.
Supporting American Shipyards
The American-build requirement creates a protected commercial market for domestic shipyards. Shipbuilding and repair support naval architects, engineers, welders, electricians, machinists, pipefitters, software specialists, equipment manufacturers, and numerous suppliers. Commercial shipyard activity may also preserve skills and facilities useful to the Navy, Coast Guard, and government sealift programs.
The Department of Transportation has stated that commercial orders can improve shipyard utilization and that production experience gained through commercial construction can benefit naval work. MARAD has similarly identified shipbuilding and repair as an industry producing substantial direct and indirect economic activity. See MARAD, The Economic Importance of the U.S. Shipbuilding and Repairing Industry.
The Jones Act has not produced an American commercial shipbuilding industry comparable in output to the large shipyards of China, South Korea, or Japan. Nevertheless, eliminating the domestic-build requirement would likely remove much of the remaining commercial demand for large American-built vessels.
Maintaining an American Maritime Workforce
Ships are useful only when qualified people are available to operate them. Jones Act commerce provides employment for captains, mates, pilots, engineers, deckhands, oilers, tankermen, and other maritime workers. It enables mariners to obtain and maintain the licenses, endorsements, sea time, and operational experience required to serve aboard complex vessels.
That workforce also supports national defense. During a major mobilization, the United States may need to crew government-owned reserve vessels in addition to ships already operating in commercial service. MARAD has repeatedly emphasized that the commercial merchant marine supplies much of the experienced workforce upon which military sealift depends.
A vessel may be constructed or acquired more quickly than a competent master mariner or chief engineer can be trained. Continuing commercial employment therefore preserves human capabilities that cannot be recreated immediately after an emergency begins.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that maritime occupations continue to provide relatively well-paid employment. In 2025, median annual wages in water transportation were approximately $101,400 for captains, mates, and pilots; $123,300 for ship engineers; and $52,000 for sailors and marine oilers. See Bureau of Labor Statistics, Water Transportation.
Financing the American Fleet: The Ship Mortgage Act of 1920
Reserving domestic cargo for American vessels was not sufficient to create a merchant marine. Ships require enormous capital investment, and few operators can finance their construction or acquisition without private credit.
Congress therefore included the Ship Mortgage Act as Section 30 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920. Although the original Section 30 was later repealed during the recodification of federal maritime law, its central principles survive in Chapter 313 of Title 46.
The Problem with Vessel Financing
A vessel presents unusual problems as collateral. Unlike a building, it can move among jurisdictions, leave the country, incur maritime liens, suffer a casualty, or be transferred while claims remain outstanding.
Before 1920, vessel mortgagees faced substantial uncertainty regarding the status and enforceability of their interests. The Supreme Court had treated an ordinary ship mortgage as a nonmaritime contract outside traditional admiralty jurisdiction. Lenders could therefore encounter fragmented remedies and uncertainty about whether they could proceed directly against the vessel.
A lender is less willing to finance an expensive maritime asset if it cannot reliably determine:
whether its mortgage has priority;
which maritime liens may outrank it;
whether the vessel may be arrested;
which court has jurisdiction;
whether the vessel may be sold to satisfy the debt; or
whether the lien survives a transfer of ownership.
Congress responded by establishing a uniform federal mortgage system.
The Preferred Ship Mortgage
The Act created the concept of the preferred ship mortgage. Under modern law, a qualifying mortgage may be filed against a covered vessel and receive federally recognized priority. A preferred mortgage creates a lien against the vessel for the outstanding mortgage debt. If the debtor defaults, the mortgagee may generally:
bring an in rem action against the vessel;
obtain the vessel’s arrest;
seek a judicial sale;
pursue responsible borrowers or guarantors personally; and
seek an appropriate deficiency if the vessel’s value does not satisfy the debt.
Federal district courts possess exclusive jurisdiction over certain in rem actions to enforce preferred mortgage liens. This provides a nationally uniform enforcement mechanism rather than forcing lenders to rely entirely upon the law of whichever state happens to contain the vessel.
Balancing Mortgages Against Maritime Liens
A vessel may be subject to numerous claims simultaneously, including:
seamen’s wage claims;
salvage claims;
tort liens arising from collisions or personal injuries;
claims for fuel, repairs, supplies, and other necessaries;
preferred mortgage liens; and
government claims.
Federal law establishes priorities among those competing interests. Certain preferred maritime liens—particularly claims for crew wages, salvage, and some maritime torts—may receive priority over a ship mortgage. Other claims may rank below it.
This system balances two interests. It provides lenders with sufficient security to make maritime financing viable while preserving the special treatment traditionally given to seamen and other favored maritime claimants.
Connecting Protected Commerce with Private Capital
The mortgage provisions supported the broader purposes of the Merchant Marine Act by:
facilitating private purchases of government-owned vessels;
encouraging vessel construction and acquisition;
making ships more valuable and predictable as collateral;
attracting private capital into American shipping; and
establishing uniform procedures for foreclosure and judicial sale.
The relationship between Sections 27 and 30 was practical. The coastwise provision protected the commercial market; the mortgage provision helped operators finance the vessels needed to serve it.
Unlike the coastwise restriction, the ship-mortgage system is not principally a restraint on foreign competition. It is a commercial-law framework intended to make lending and investment more predictable. It may therefore be one of the least controversial and most durable achievements of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920.
Protecting American Seamen
Congress also used the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 to strengthen the legal protections available to American seamen. Section 33—also commonly called the Jones Act—gave a qualifying seaman injured in the course of employment a federal negligence claim against the employer. The provision incorporated protections derived from the Federal Employers’ Liability Act and allowed the seaman to pursue an action at law with the right to trial by jury.
The remedy represented a major change in maritime law. Earlier Supreme Court decisions had substantially restricted the ability of injured seamen to recover damages from their employers, particularly when an injury resulted from the negligence of another member of the crew. Section 33 shifted more of the cost of unsafe maritime operations onto negligent employers.
The provision is now codified at 46 U.S.C. § 30104. It may provide compensation when employer negligence contributes to a seaman’s injury or death.
The Jones Act also interacts with older remedies arising under general maritime law, including maintenance and cure, unearned wages, and claims based upon an unseaworthy vessel. Those doctrines are related but legally distinct from Jones Act negligence.
Determining whether a worker qualifies as a “seaman” is frequently the decisive question. Traditional crew members ordinarily qualify, while commercial divers, offshore workers, construction personnel, and other maritime workers require a fact-specific analysis of their relationship to a vessel or identifiable fleet.
Continue reading:Jones Act Protections for Injured American Seamen
[Internal link to the forthcoming article]
The Central Criticism: The Jones Act Is Protectionist
The most fundamental criticism of the Jones Act is also the most straightforward: it is a protectionist law. Like a tariff, the Jones Act limits foreign competition to advance domestic economic and strategic interests. But it goes further than an ordinary tariff. A tariff permits a foreign competitor to enter the market after paying an additional tax. The Jones Act ordinarily excludes nonqualifying vessels from the coastwise cargo market altogether.
Its requirements operate as a combination of:
a foreign-entry prohibition;
a domestic-content rule;
an American-ownership requirement;
a citizenship requirement; and
a legally protected domestic market.
That protection is not an accidental consequence. It is part of the law’s design. Congress sought to preserve American shipyards, owners, vessels, and mariners rather than depend upon less expensive foreign capacity that might become unavailable during an emergency.
The Protectionist Bargain
The case for the Jones Act rests upon what might be called a protectionist bargain. American businesses and consumers accept higher costs and reduced foreign competition in return for preserving domestic maritime capability. The intended benefits include:
American shipbuilding and repair capacity;
jobs for American mariners;
vessels controlled by American owners;
compliance with American labor and safety laws;
a trained workforce available for military sealift;
reduced dependence upon foreign carriers; and
domestic control over strategically sensitive transportation.
The corresponding costs may include:
more expensive vessels;
higher freight rates;
fewer available carriers;
reduced competitive pressure;
slower fleet modernization;
fewer economically viable maritime routes; and
increased prices in communities dependent upon maritime transportation.
The dispute is therefore not whether the Jones Act restrains trade. It plainly does. The central question is whether the domestic capacity preserved by that restraint is worth its economic cost.
Major Policy Criticisms of the Jones Act
The American-Build Requirement Makes Vessels More Expensive
The most substantial criticism concerns the requirement that coastwise-qualified vessels be constructed in the United States.
American commercial shipyards generally charge substantially more than large Asian shipyards for comparable vessels. Differences in production scale, supply chains, labor costs, foreign subsidies, government policy, and technical specialization all contribute to the disparity.
Jones Act carriers must therefore pay the higher domestic price, continue operating older vessels, substitute tug-and-barge combinations, or conclude that a proposed service is not economically viable.
Critics argue that this produces a cycle in which:
American-built vessels are unusually expensive.
Carriers purchase fewer new vessels.
Domestic shipyards receive fewer commercial orders.
The fleet becomes smaller or older.
Domestic shipping becomes less competitive.
Less cargo moves by water.
The maritime industry creates fewer jobs than the protection was intended to produce.
The Cato Institute has emphasized this apparent paradox: a law intended to protect American shipbuilding may guarantee work for the shipyards that remain while making vessels so expensive that operators order relatively few of them.
Supporters respond that permitting American operators to purchase foreign-built vessels might reduce acquisition costs but eliminate much of the remaining commercial market for American shipyards. The disagreement is ultimately about whether domestic construction capacity justifies that additional cost.
Restrictions on Competition May Increase Freight Rates
Foreign carriers cannot ordinarily compete for transportation between American points, even if they already operate vessels in nearby international service. Critics argue that reduced competition enables higher freight rates. Those costs may be passed from carriers to shippers, wholesalers, retailers, and ultimately consumers.
The size of the effect varies by market. Freight rates also depend upon:
cargo volume;
vessel utilization;
fuel prices;
port and terminal expenses;
distance;
availability of return cargo;
competition from other transportation modes;
local taxes; and
infrastructure efficiency.
It would therefore be misleading to attribute every difference in consumer prices to the Jones Act. Nevertheless, limiting competition and requiring comparatively expensive vessels almost certainly increases the cost of some domestic maritime transportation.
Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico Bear Disproportionate Costs
The most prominent economic criticism concerns noncontiguous jurisdictions such as Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Unlike most communities in the continental United States, these markets cannot rely as readily upon trucks or conventional railroads as alternatives to maritime transportation. Critics contend that residents consequently pay more for food, fuel, vehicles, construction materials, and other goods shipped from the mainland.
An important qualification is frequently omitted: the Jones Act does not require all foreign goods imported into these jurisdictions to travel aboard American vessels. Foreign vessels may generally transport foreign cargo directly to Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico. The restriction applies when merchandise is transported from another American point.
Economic estimates vary substantially. Some studies have attributed significant costs to the Jones Act. A Government Accountability Office study of Puerto Rico, however, concluded that modifying the law could generate both costs and benefits and that the overall effect could not be determined reliably from the available data.
The defensible conclusion is not that the Jones Act causes every elevated price in a noncontiguous market. It is that the law can increase domestic transportation costs in communities that are unusually dependent upon maritime service.
Freight May Be Diverted from Water to Land
Water transportation can be highly fuel-efficient, particularly for heavy bulk cargo. Critics argue that Jones Act costs cause some freight to move by truck, railroad, or pipeline instead. That diversion may contribute to:
highway congestion;
wear on roads and bridges;
public infrastructure expenses;
fuel consumption and emissions; and
highway or rail accidents involving hazardous materials.
The argument is plausible, but the amount of freight that would actually shift to water after reform remains uncertain. Transportation choices also depend upon speed, frequency, terminal access, handling expenses, cargo characteristics, and the location of existing infrastructure.
A Protected Market May Reduce Competitive Pressure
Critics contend that protection from foreign entry reduces the incentive for carriers and shipyards to lower prices, replace older assets, or introduce new technology. A carrier seeking a new coastwise vessel cannot solicit bids from the entire international market. It must use one of the relatively small number of American shipyards capable of constructing the vessel. Some of those yards are heavily committed to military work.
Jones Act operators have nevertheless introduced modern container ships, LNG-powered vessels, articulated tug-barges, and specialized offshore vessels. The existence of innovation does not eliminate the concern that broader competition might produce it more quickly or at a lower cost.
The Law May Protect Wages While Limiting Total Employment
The Jones Act reserves domestic maritime employment for American workers and prevents carriers from replacing them with lower-paid foreign crews. Critics argue that the resulting operating costs reduce demand for maritime transportation. If businesses respond by using trucks, railroads, pipelines, or foreign imports, the law could protect comparatively well-paid positions aboard existing vessels while limiting the total number of maritime jobs.
Calling American wages “artificially inflated” obscures an important distinction. American carriers must comply with American labor, immigration, taxation, licensing, and safety requirements. Foreign-flag operators may employ multinational crews under markedly different legal and economic conditions.
Nevertheless, the tension between protecting wages and expanding employment is legitimate. A policy may improve the position of each protected worker while reducing the total number of positions the market supports.
The Fleet May Not Match Modern Military Requirements
Supporters argue that the Jones Act preserves vessels and mariners for military use. Critics respond that many Jones Act vessels are not suitable for overseas sealift.
Inland barges, harbor tugs, dredges, and specialized domestic vessels cannot necessarily transport military cargo across an ocean. Even oceangoing commercial vessels may lack the speed, capacity, loading systems, or configuration required for a particular military mission.
The United States also relies upon government-owned reserve vessels, internationally trading U.S.-flag ships, the Maritime Security Program, chartered commercial vessels, and allied shipping. The criticism identifies a real distinction between maintaining maritime capacity generally and maintaining militarily useful sealift specifically.
The response is that national readiness depends upon more than an inventory of vessels. It also requires shipyards, repair facilities, suppliers, licensed officers, engineers, and experienced mariners. A vessel that never transports military cargo may still support the industrial and human infrastructure upon which military sealift depends. The Jones Act likely contributes to national security, but its precise contribution is difficult to measure and should not be overstated.
Emergency Waivers Can Become Slow or Politicized
Federal law permits Jones Act waivers under limited circumstances, principally when required in the interest of national defense. Requests frequently become controversial after hurricanes, refinery disruptions, fuel shortages, and other emergencies.
Critics contend that waiver decisions can be slow, opaque, or influenced by pressure from protected carriers. Supporters respond that indiscriminate waivers would allow temporary disruptions to undermine the domestic fleet.
Foreign vessels also cannot solve every emergency. The true bottleneck may involve damaged ports, terminal capacity, storage, communications, roads, or inland distribution rather than vessel availability. Reform could focus upon clearer waiver standards, transparent vessel-availability determinations, and faster decisions without necessarily abandoning the underlying coastwise rule.
The Pro-Jones Act Argument:
The Anti-Jones Act Argument
Is Protectionism Necessarily Irrational?
Accurately describing the Jones Act as “protectionistic” does not mean it is bad policy. Nations sometimes restrict trade to preserve capabilities considered strategically indispensable. A purely open market might reduce immediate shipping costs while leaving the United States dependent upon foreign-built vessels, foreign-controlled carriers, and multinational crews.
That dependence may appear economically efficient during peacetime but become dangerous during war, sanctions, a pandemic, or a global supply-chain crisis. Once shipyards close and experienced mariners leave the industry, rebuilding the lost capacity may take years.
Protectionism can therefore function as a form of insurance. The relevant questions are:
What does that insurance cost?
Which risks does it actually cover?
Does it preserve the capabilities the country needs?
Could the same capabilities be supported more efficiently?
Critics propose alternatives such as direct shipbuilding subsidies, tax incentives, operating stipends, expanded maritime-security programs, or allowing American operators to purchase foreign-built vessels while preserving American ownership and crewing requirements. Supporters answer that a permanent commercial market is more reliable than subsidies subject to annual appropriations and political change. The strongest debate is therefore not about whether the United States should possess maritime capacity. It is about whether the Jones Act is the most effective and efficient means of preserving it.
The Jones Act’s Enduring Legacy
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 was a product of its time, but the problems it confronted have not disappeared. The United States still depends upon maritime transportation. It still needs trained mariners, functioning shipyards, reliable vessel financing, and the ability to move essential cargo during war or emergency. Seamen still perform dangerous work far from the protections and medical resources available ashore.
The Act’s principal surviving legacies address those needs in different ways:
The coastwise provisions preserve a domestic market for American vessels, shipyards, operators, and mariners.
The preferred ship-mortgage system makes vessel financing and enforcement more predictable.
The personal-injury provision gives qualifying seamen and their families a remedy when employer negligence causes injury or death.
Those benefits come with genuine costs. The Jones Act restrains competition, makes vessels more expensive, and increases at least some domestic transportation costs. Its protected fleet remains smaller than many national-security planners consider desirable, and reasonable people may question whether narrower or more direct policies could achieve the same goals more efficiently.
The Jones Act should therefore be neither romanticized nor dismissed as an inexplicable relic. It represents a century-old policy choice to accept some economic inefficiency in exchange for domestic maritime capacity, American employment, national control, and protection for seamen. Whether that bargain remains worthwhile—and whether it can be improved—is the central question in the modern Jones Act debate.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Jones Act
1. What is the Jones Act?
The term “Jones Act” most commonly refers to the federal law restricting the transportation of merchandise between points in the United States to coastwise-qualified vessels. Enacted as Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, the coastwise cargo provision is now codified at 46 U.S.C. § 55102.
The name is also used for Section 33 of the same Act, which gives qualifying seamen a federal negligence remedy against their employers. That provision is now codified at 46 U.S.C. § 30104.
2. Is the Jones Act still in effect?
Yes. The Jones Act remains an important part of federal maritime law. Its principal surviving provisions govern domestic transportation of merchandise, remedies for injured or deceased seamen, and—through later recodifications—the federal system for preferred ship mortgages and maritime liens.
3. What does the Jones Act require?
The coastwise provision generally requires merchandise transported between two points in the United States to travel aboard a vessel that is:
built in the United States;
documented under American law;
owned by qualifying American citizens or entities; and
authorized to engage in coastwise trade.
Separate federal requirements also govern the citizenship and composition of the vessel’s crew. The restriction can apply even when the transportation passes through a foreign port. MARAD summarizes the current domestic-shipping requirements here.
4. Does the Jones Act prohibit foreign ships from entering American ports?
No. Foreign vessels may transport imports to the United States and carry American exports to foreign destinations. A foreign vessel may, for example, carry cargo from Europe to New York or from Houston to Asia.
What a non-coastwise-qualified vessel generally may not do is transport merchandise from one American point to another American point.
5. Does the Jones Act apply to Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico?
Yes. Transportation of merchandise from the American mainland to Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico generally constitutes transportation between American points and is subject to the Jones Act.
The law does not require every foreign product entering those jurisdictions to be carried aboard an American vessel. A foreign ship may generally transport foreign merchandise directly from a foreign country to Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico.
6. Why do cruises between American ports stop in foreign countries?
Those stops usually result from the Passenger Vessel Services Act rather than the Jones Act. The Passenger Vessel Services Act generally restricts transportation of passengers between American points aboard non-coastwise-qualified vessels.
Because most large cruise ships are foreign-built and foreign-flagged, cruise lines commonly include a foreign port in an itinerary to comply with that separate passenger law.
7. Why was the Jones Act enacted?
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 followed the enormous shipping demands of the First World War. Congress concluded that the United States needed a merchant marine capable of supporting domestic commerce, foreign trade, and national defense without depending entirely upon foreign vessels and foreign-controlled carriers.
The Act sought to preserve American vessels, shipyards, maritime employment, financing capacity, and trained mariners after the wartime emergency ended.
8. How does the Jones Act support national security?
Supporters argue that the Jones Act preserves shipyards, repair facilities, vessel operators, suppliers, licensed officers, engineers, and experienced mariners that may be needed during war or another national emergency.
The law does not guarantee that every coastwise vessel will be suitable for military sealift. Its national-security argument is broader: maintaining a domestic maritime industry preserves industrial and human capabilities that cannot be recreated quickly after a crisis begins.
9. Why is the Jones Act controversial?
The central criticism is that the Jones Act restricts competition and requires American operators to purchase comparatively expensive American-built vessels. Critics argue that these requirements increase freight costs, discourage investment in new vessels, divert cargo to land transportation, and impose disproportionate costs upon maritime-dependent communities.
Supporters respond that lower-cost foreign competition could eliminate much of the remaining domestic commercial shipbuilding market and increase American dependence upon foreign vessels, owners, and crews.
10. Does the Jones Act increase consumer prices?
The Jones Act likely increases the cost of at least some domestic maritime transportation, but its effect upon consumer prices varies considerably by market and product.
Retail prices also reflect fuel costs, port expenses, cargo volume, vessel utilization, taxes, warehousing, local infrastructure, availability of return cargo, and competition from trucks, railroads, pipelines, and foreign imports. It is therefore misleading to attribute every elevated price in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or another maritime-dependent market solely to the Jones Act.
11. Can the federal government waive the Jones Act during an emergency?
Yes, but only under limited statutory authority. Federal navigation laws may be waived when the applicable national-defense standard is satisfied. Depending upon the circumstances, the process may require a determination concerning the availability of coastwise-qualified vessels.
Waiver requests often become controversial following hurricanes, fuel shortages, refinery disruptions, and other emergencies because the government must balance immediate transportation needs against the long-term policy of preserving domestic maritime capacity. Current waiver information is maintained by the U.S. Maritime Administration.
12. How does the Jones Act protect injured seamen?
Section 33 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 permits a qualifying seaman who is injured in the course of employment to bring a negligence action against the employer. If employer negligence causes a seaman’s death, the seaman’s personal representative may pursue the statutory claim.
Not every maritime worker qualifies as a Jones Act seaman. Coverage depends upon the worker’s duties and employment-related connection to a vessel in navigation or an identifiable fleet. Commercial divers, offshore workers, and maritime construction personnel may require particularly careful, fact-specific analysis.
13. Is a Jones Act claim the same as maintenance and cure or unseaworthiness?
No. These remedies may arise from the same accident, but they are legally distinct.
Jones Act negligence focuses principally upon the employer’s negligent conduct.
Unseaworthiness concerns whether the vessel, crew, equipment, or appurtenances were reasonably fit for their intended purposes.
Maintenance and cure generally requires an employer to provide basic living support and necessary medical care to an eligible seaman injured or becoming ill while in the service of the vessel, without requiring proof of employer negligence.
The availability of each remedy depends upon the facts and the worker’s legal status.
14. What did the Ship Mortgage Act of 1920 accomplish?
The Merchant Marine Act established a federal system for preferred ship mortgages. That system made vessel financing more predictable by defining mortgage priority and allowing qualifying lenders to enforce mortgage liens through federal proceedings against the vessel.
Its modern successor appears principally in Chapter 313 of Title 46. Although less publicly controversial than the coastwise restriction, the ship-mortgage system remains one of the Act’s most durable commercial-law legacies.
15. Would repealing the Jones Act make domestic shipping cheaper?
Repeal or substantial reform could reduce vessel-acquisition costs and permit additional foreign competition, potentially lowering some freight rates. The magnitude of those savings would vary among routes and would not necessarily translate directly into equivalent reductions in retail prices.
Repeal could also reduce demand for American-built commercial vessels and place additional pressure on domestic shipyards, carriers, and maritime employment. The policy question is therefore not simply whether foreign shipping would be cheaper. It is whether the resulting savings would justify losing some portion of the domestic maritime capacity the law preserves.
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