Analysis

The Jones Act Index

Last Updated: November 4, 2025

Percentage of domestic freight transported by water in the United States: 3.9%

Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics, weight of shipments by transport mode (2024)

Percentage of intra-EU freight transported by water: 28%

Publications Office of the European Union, EU transport in figures (2024), p.36: modal split percentage for sea

Cost per ton-mile for shipping, Long Beach to Honolulu: $0.28

Calculated manually from 2025 Matson quote ($7,573) to ship one TEU of goods from Long Beach, CA to Honolulu, HI

Jacksonville to San Juan: $0.23

Calculated manually from U.S.-Puerto Rico shipping cost estimates, New York Fed Report on the Competitiveness of Puerto Rico’s Economy (2012) [1]

Netherlands to Spain: $0.02-0.12

Calculated manually from 2025 freight rates provided by Globy, Rotterdam to Algeciras

Shanghai to Los Angeles: $0.04-0.06

Calculated manually from Conexwest 2025 rate chart

Cost per ton-mile for long-haul trucking in the U.S.: $0.09-$0.11

Dry van rates calculated from 2025 cost/mile estimates provided by DAT Freight and Analytics and WorldCraft Logistics.

Average CO₂ emissions Per TEU-mile of freight for long-haul trucking: 833 grams

For rail: 317 grams

For a small containership: 411 grams

For a medium containership: 141 grams

All numbers from Cato, Environmental Costs of the Jones Act (2020), p.5

Weekly vessel services between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro: 6

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.

Between Osaka and Tokyo: 6

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.

Between Qingdao and Shanghai: 16

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.

Between Melbourne and Hobart, Tasmania: 18

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.

Between any two of the largest 50 U.S. cities by population size: 0

Balsa Research, Where Jones Act Vessels Go: An Operational Analysis (2025)

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

All numbers from Argus Media (2025).

Number of shipbuilders in China: 162,000

IBISWorld, Ship Building in China Market Research Report (2024)

In South Korea: 143,000

Statista, Number of Employees in the shipbuilding industry in South Korea in 2019, by region (2025)

In Japan: 71,000

Statista, Shipbuilding industry in Japan - statistics & facts (2025)

In the United States: 105,000

MARAD, Fact Sheet - U.S. Domestic Shipbuilding (2024)

Number of ships built in 2022 in China: 1,794

In South Korea: 734

In Japan: 587

In the United States: 5

All numbers from the Congressional Research Service, U.S. Commercial Shipbuilding in a Global Context (2023).

[1]: 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.