On Sept. 20, 2017, the US territory of Puerto Rico was struck by Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm that killed an unknown number of people and destroyed virtually all of the infrastructure supporting everyday life for the island’s 3.4 million American residents.
It could take years for Puerto Rico to fully recover from this tragedy. Certainly, the families of lost loved ones will never be the same.
Yet, following limited waivers for the US Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, opponents of the Jones Act wasted little time feeding misinformation to news organizations about how the Jones Act was to blame for slow emergency response and the high costs of recovery in Puerto Rico.
It was a well-organized attack, and it wasn’t the first time they exploited the plight of disaster victims to push their agenda.
Given that a few members of Congress indicated support for amending or repealing the Jones Act after this latest campaign demonstrates the need to step up efforts to educate policymakers about the importance of the US maritime industry to our national interests.
We need to do a better job communicating the facts — that the US-flag maritime sector provides nearly 500,000 middle-class American jobs and generates nearly $100 billion in economic output; that it enhances national security by ensuring the availability of qualified seafarers, ships, and intermodal assets for times of war or national emergency; and that it provides the industrial base vital to defense shipbuilding, maintenance, and repair. We also need to dispel the myths — the Jones Act does not drive the cost of shipping goods to remote places like Puerto Rico or require that all goods arrive on US ships.
Matson is a proud public US company and Jones Act carrier. We believe the Jones Act is the right thing for our country, and we will do our part to ensure its continued success.