Blockchain reveals hidden costs of 100 year old shipping laws

The 1920 Merchant Marine Act also know as the Jones Act celebrates its 100 anniversary but this anniversary ought not to be celebrated as it acts almost like a tax on goods for US citizens

How blockchain can help shipping laws

Jones Act means ships which transport goods between domestic ports in America have to be; U.S.-built, U.S.-, and at least 75 percent U.S.-owned and crewed?—?net result higher transport costs for shipping goods so higher prices for US consumers. It also leads to greater inefficiency of US domestic supply chains, an increase in the amount of freight on the roads, rail and even air all of which have a detrimental impact on the environment.

This law was introduced to ensure that the USA wasn’t dependant of foreign ships as part of its national defence plans following WW1. The Ship Builders Council of America proudly boast that “the U.S. commercial shipbuilding industry and its related supplier base support America’s fleet of more than 40,000 commercial vessels”.

However, it has now having unintended consequences as of the 53,000 merchant ocean going ships globally only 100 comply with Jones act. Cheaper ship builders around the world has meant that the USA is no longer the force it was in building ships. The majority of the 40,000 commercial vessels are trawlers and barges so of little practical use in the event of the being able to help mobilise men and equipment in the face of a war.

A Congressional Research Service report found that the purchase price of U.S.-built tankers is “about four times the price of foreign??built tankers, and U.S. crewing costs are several times those of foreign??flag ships.” so crude oil from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast costs $5 to $6 per barrel versus $2 per barrel.

Blockchain powered platforms have highlighted the additional costs and processes as a result of Jones Act as they continue to unravel the complex supply chains and look to drive out in efficiencies in our globally interconnected trading activities. Cars that are imported to California from Asia then have to be transported by road and rail to show rooms across the USA. As opposed to being able to be moved on smaller ships from San Fran or LA to other American ports undermine the potential economies of scale that could be enjoyed if it were not for the 1920 Merchant Marine Act.

Bought to you by Digital Bytes if you would like to receive Digital Bytes weekly please email: Jonny.Fry@Teamblockchain.net

#Blockchain #supplychain #Economy #Environment #Climatechange #enviroment#transparency #trust #shipping #USA #Logistics

More about Irish Tech News and Business Showcase here

FYI the ROI for you is => Irish Tech News now gets over 1.5 million monthly views, and up to 900k monthly unique visitors, from over 160 countries. We have over 860,000 relevant followers on Twitter on our various accounts & were recently described as Ireland’s leading online tech news site and Ireland’s answer to TechCrunch, so we can offer you a good audience!

Since introducing desktop notifications a short time ago, which notify readers directly in their browser of new articles being published, over 50,000 people have now signed up to receive them ensuring they are instantly kept up to date on all our latest content. Desktop notifications offer a unique method of serving content directly to verified readers and bypass the issue of content getting lost in people’s crowded news feeds.

Drop us a line if you want to be featured, guest post, suggest a possible interview, or just let us know what you would like to see more of in our future articles. We’re always open to new and interesting suggestions for informative and different articles. Contact us, by email, twitter or whatever social media works for you and hopefully we can share your story too and reach our global audience.

Irish Tech News

---

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie or on Twitter: @SimonCocking