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Yep. The Jones Act

• Scoundreller 8y ago
  Well, natural gas can be shipped between states, it just has to by US flagged vessels. (There May not be any US-flagged LNG ships). “Can’t” isn’t true. It’s like saying “Walmart can’t ship goods between its US warehouses and US stores because foreign truckers aren’t allowed to ship interstate”. Well, duh.
  • MrMorden 8y ago
    The Jones Act also bans registering a vessel in the US if it wasn't built there. US shipbuilders are happy serving the captive market, so if you want one to build an LNG carrier it'll cost at least four times what Samsung charges. If the US had an open registry, there would be US-built LNG ships; there's no shortage of competitive American shipbuilders that make vessels small enough to be exempt. But the Jones Act pissed that away, as protectionist laws invariably do.
    • wmoser 8y ago
      This is sort of incorrect, it is possible to flag a foreign built ship under the American flag, it just isn’t eligible for Jones Act trade. There are a few reasons why a company might want to do this but for the most part, companies will choose a flag of connivence over American flag if they can sail between US ports anyways.
  • mikeash 8y ago
    If there are no qualifying LNG tankers then “can’t” is completely true.