As I said above shipping is always high to islands. You can say the same thing (small business hurt by shipping) in Bermuda or Tahiti or Antigua, in all these c

As I said above shipping is always high to islands. You can say the same thing (small business hurt by shipping) in Bermuda or Tahiti or Antigua, in all these cases the cost of shipping has nothing to do with the Jones Act. If Jones Act shippers were fleecing PR, then it would be very profitable for foreign shippers to set up a route from Florida to PR via the Bahamas. This would be 100% legal under the Jones Act and the fact that they haven't demonstrates that it isn't very profitable to try to undercut the current shippers. The same for Hawaii, all foreign ships have to do is stop in Ensenada and then they can go to San Diego or Longbeach and it'd be 100% legal under the Jones Act. Foreign-flagged cruise ships are already doing exactly this. Also live animals nearly always travel long distances by air. Putting them on a boat for a long sea voyage means you have to make provisions to feed and care for them, which eliminates any potential cost savings.