By Captain Ed Enos.
It’s curious why some are pushing so hard against the Jones Act in Hawaii lately (“Jones Act hurts more than it helps,” Island Voices, Star-Advertiser, Feb. 23). Contrary to what Grassroot Institute-affiliated scholar Colin Grabow writes, the Jones Act doesn’t impact the cost of fuel in Hawaii because our island refinery shops for the best prices on the global market and much of it comes directly from Asia, which the Jones Act allows.
To be clear, crude oil is delivered by foreign-owned ships, operated by foreign corporations, employing foreign crews, that do not pay taxes to the USA. This is precisely the “model” that some insist would provide for a much cheaper cost of living here in Hawaii. Yet somehow, we are still paying the highest cost for energy in the entire nation. That reality doesn’t agree with the anti-Jones Act theory.
We know from local economists and news media analyses over the years that shipping costs have very little impact on the overall price of consumer goods in Hawaii. A study by Reeve &Associates and Hawaii- based TZ Economics concluded the Jones Act has no appreciable impact on the cost of living in Hawaii (read online at 808ne.ws/jonesactreport).
There will always be a “transportation cost” to our island state residents, regardless of who is operating the ships and barges that are continuously moving cargo.
So what’s the agenda, and what mainland money is funding this anti-Jones Act campaign?
A recent investigation linked the Cato Institute to European Union shipping interests that want to move into America’s shipping industry. Undermining the Jones Act serves the interests of foreign entities at the expense of U.S. businesses and jobs.
Why would we choose to give away our economic security to foreign countries, such as China, and rely on them entirely to deliver our food, medicine and everything else we need to survive here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?
I suggest if we want to lower the cost of living here, look at U.S. corporate tax policy as a start of how to decrease the cost of doing business for America shipowners, shipbuilders and transportation businesses, compared to their foreign competitors. Therein lies what creates the “price of paradise” here for our island residents.
I’ve been employed in Hawaii’s maritime transportation industry since 1978. l have been a harbor pilot licensed by the state of Hawaii and U.S. Coast Guard for all our commercial ports for 30-plus years. Every day at work I go aboard a variety of ships that fly both an American flag and foreign flags of numerous countries and safely navigate them into our harbors, from Hilo to Nawiliwili. I am intimately aware of the challenges involved with ocean shipping and literally “live” the Jones Act each day.
Born and raised here on Oahu, it saddens me that Hawaii residents do not have a greater appreciation for our local maritime industry and the value of the Jones Act.
Capt. Ed Enos has been a state harbor pilot for more than 30 years. This op-ed originally appeared in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on March 19, 2025.
