Cato Institute fellow Colin Grabow evaluates the commercial incentives facing American shipyards in the context of maritime trade laws.
Assertion Supported
Grabow: US-built container ships cost five times more than international builds
“By the 19 thirties, it was up to a 50% premium for U.S. Built ships. By the 19 fifties, a U.S. Built ship was double the cost of one built abroad. By the 19 nineties, it was triple the cost of one built abroad, and today, a U.S. Built container ship is somewhe…”
Assertion Partly supported
Grabow: Foreign shipyard workers earn more than Americans despite building cheaper ships
“Well, the data suggests, actually, that workers in South Korea and Japan and Europe, they make more than Americans, and yet the ships are still significantly cheaper, so that's interesting.”
Assertion Supported
Grabow: Zero Jones Act-Compliant LNG Tankers Exist in the United States
“We can't transport it by water to other parts of the United States because there are no LNG tankers that comply with the Jones Act.”
Assertion Supported
Grabow: Ships transport only about 2% of US freight
“If you look at The data, something like only two percent of freight in the United States is transported by ships. You add in barges, that's like another four percent. So we're well under 10% for water transport in the U.S.”
Assertion Supported
Grabow: East Coast refineries import more foreign oil than domestic oil
“East Coast refineries, say, in the Mid-Atlantic they import more oil from places like Libya or the Middle East or Nigeria than they do from Texas, from the Gulf Coast.”
Assertion Supported
Grabow: U.S. LNG Tankers Cost $700M to Build Versus Under $200M in South Korea
“A few years ago, the Wall Street Journal estimated that to build an LNG tanker in the United States would cost around seven hundred million dollars, whereas at that time you could buy one for, I think, less than two hundred million in South Korea.”