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Has anyone estimated what the impact on the trucking industry would be if the US repealed the Jones Act? Most of America's biggest cities are adjacent to ocean

Has anyone estimated what the impact on the trucking industry would be if the US repealed the Jones Act? Most of America's biggest cities are adjacent to ocean or other waterways, and water transport is cheaper than land transport. So it seems fairly plausible to me that the American trucking industry in its current form is basically just a huge source of excess carbon emissions, created as a result of bad regulation. Here is some info on the Jones Act for those who are unfamiliar: https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/jones-act-burden-america-can-no-longer-bear https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/jones-act-...

digdugdirk 4y ago
It would be interesting, for sure. Unfortunately, decades of waterway infrastructure neglect would leave a massive gap between where things stand now, and where they would need to be in order to utilize waterway transportation outside of existing facilities. For example - it would enable higher volume transport of commodities (that are currently shipped by river) along rivers, but we don't really have any river-based shipping container ports in existence now. The expansion/creation/upgrades to existing facilities would take time and money, and as the article points out... The trucking industry has managed to externalize those infrastructure costs onto the taxpayer - why would a shipping company lay down that uncertain investment when they have to compete with an industry that doesn't have to do any of that?
snowypine 4y ago
I'm not an expert here on water transportation but I think water is very similar to rail. Both are much more cost and energy efficient. But they require large freight volumes and sacrifice a lot of the flexibility that trucking has. Unless we change our supply chain philosophy, trucking will likely reign above all other forms of transportation.
cafard 4y ago
I imagine the impact would be minimal in Wyoming.
- ShredKazoo 4y ago
  Wyoming has a population less than San Francisco

digdugdirk 4y ago

It would be interesting, for sure. Unfortunately, decades of waterway infrastructure neglect would leave a massive gap between where things stand now, and where they would need to be in order to utilize waterway transportation outside of existing facilities. For example - it would enable higher volume transport of commodities (that are currently shipped by river) along rivers, but we don't really have any river-based shipping container ports in existence now. The expansion/creation/upgrades to existing facilities would take time and money, and as the article points out... The trucking industry has managed to externalize those infrastructure costs onto the taxpayer - why would a shipping company lay down that uncertain investment when they have to compete with an industry that doesn't have to do any of that?

snowypine 4y ago

I'm not an expert here on water transportation but I think water is very similar to rail. Both are much more cost and energy efficient. But they require large freight volumes and sacrifice a lot of the flexibility that trucking has. Unless we change our supply chain philosophy, trucking will likely reign above all other forms of transportation.

cafard 4y ago

I imagine the impact would be minimal in Wyoming.

ShredKazoo 4y ago
Wyoming has a population less than San Francisco