Analysis
The Jones Act Index
Last Updated: January 29, 2026
Cost per ton-mile for shipping, Long Beach to Honolulu: $0.28
Jacksonville to San Juan: $0.23
Netherlands to Spain: $0.02-0.12
Shanghai to Los Angeles: $0.04-0.06
Cost per ton-mile for long-haul trucking in the U.S.: $0.09-$0.11
Percentage of domestic freight transported by water in the United States: 3.9%
By road: 67%
Percentage of intra-EU freight transported by water: 28%
By road: 53%
Average cost per day to transport diesel products domestically on a Jones Act-eligible tanker: $86,000-$91,000
On an internationally flagged medium range tanker: $8,952
Weekly vessel services between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro: 6
Between Osaka and Tokyo: 6
Between Qingdao and Shanghai: 16
Between Melbourne and Hobart, Tasmania: 18
Between any two of the largest 50 U.S. cities by population size: 0
Average CO₂ emissions Per TEU-mile of freight for long-haul trucking: 833 grams
For a small containership: 411 grams
For a medium containership: 141 grams
Number of shipbuilders in China: 162,000
In South Korea: 143,000
In Japan: 71,000
In the United States: 105,000
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[1]: Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics, weight of shipments by transport mode (2024)
[2] Publications Office of the European Union, EU transport in figures (2024), p.36: modal split percentage for sea
[3] Calculated manually from 2025 Matson quote ($7,573) to ship one TEU of goods from Long Beach, CA to Honolulu, HI
[4] Calculated manually from U.S.-Puerto Rico shipping cost estimates, New York Fed Report on the Competitiveness of Puerto Rico’s Economy (2012)
Formula used: [(Per-TEU cost*average ship TEU capacity on Jacksonville-San Juan route)/(Average ship TEU capacity on Jacksonville-San Juan route*12.1*distance in nautical miles from Jacksonville to San Juan)]. Note: an average TEU weighs 12.1 short tons.
[5] Calculated manually from 2025 freight rates provided by Globy, Rotterdam to Algeciras
[6] Calculated manually from Conexwest 2025 rate chart
[7] Dry van rates calculated from 2025 cost/mile estimates provided by DAT Freight and Analytics and WorldCraft Logistics.
[8] All numbers from Argus Media (2025).
[9] All numbers from Cato, Environmental Costs of the Jones Act (2020), p.5
[10] Derived from published 2025 service schedules of three major Brazilian cabotage operators: Login Logista, Mercosul Line, and Alliança. This represents scheduled liner services only; actual port calls may be higher due to additional operators or ad-hoc services.
[11] Derived from published 2025 service schedule of Japanese cabotage operator RKK Line. This represents scheduled liner services only; actual port calls may be higher due to additional operators or ad-hoc services.
[12] Derived from published 2025 service schedules of Maersk (10 weekly calls) and COSCO Shipping (6 weekly calls). This analysis assumes that Cosco and Maersk have integrated cabotage into their international routes when those routes include transit between Chinese ports, as both companies are legally allowed to perform cabotage. There is very little information about Chinese domestic-only routes online, and actual port calls may be higher due to additional operators or ad-hoc services.
[13] Derived from published 2025 service schedules of Maersk (15 weekly calls) and ANL, an Australian cabotage operator (3 weekly calls). This represents scheduled liner services only; actual port calls may be higher due to additional operators and/or ad-hoc services.
[14] Balsa Research, Where Jones Act Vessels Go: An Operational Analysis (2025)
[15] IBISWorld, Ship Building in China Market Research Report (2024)
[16] Statista, Number of Employees in the shipbuilding industry in South Korea in 2019, by region (2025)
[17] Statista, Shipbuilding industry in Japan - statistics & facts (2025)
[18] MARAD, Fact Sheet - U.S. Domestic Shipbuilding (2024)
[19] All numbers from the Congressional Research Service, U.S. Commercial Shipbuilding in a Global Context (2023).
Number of ships built in 2022 in China: 1,794
In South Korea: 734
In Japan: 587
In the United States: 5
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