from Hacker News

Absurd 200-Foot ‘Railway’ Demolished After Court Closes Shipping Loophole

by thomasjb on 5/1/23, 10:01 AM with 16 comments

  • by ckdarby on 5/1/23, 12:07 PM

    Isn't the Jones Act the same act that has to be waived every time Puerto Rico needs aid?

    Sounds like a terrible legacy law that needs to be reworked.

  • by fatnoah on 5/1/23, 3:10 PM

    Worth noting from the article:

    > The verdict required American Seafoods and its subsidiaries to find a new way to ship seafood into the United States, bringing the Bayside Canadian Railway's usefulness to an end.

    It looks like the "railway" owner solved the problem by switching to Russian-sourced seafood (Jones act applies to shipments between US ports): https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/cbp-bayside-canad...

  • by AntonyGarand on 5/1/23, 7:39 PM

    I liked this short video from "Half as interesting" on Youtube on the railway itself if you're looking for a video on the subject.

    [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP1Oq3JLNbc

  • by theandrewbailey on 5/1/23, 12:31 PM

    The Jones Act needs to be abolished, or limited to only apply to the contiguous US.

  • by croes on 5/1/23, 11:20 AM

    >The law requires shipping between American ports to be handled by American-built, American-flagged vessels

    Sounds anti competitive and not really like a free market. China vibes.

  • by hermannj314 on 5/1/23, 12:42 PM

    I am trying to find the judge's ruling. If I go to the District Court of Alaska, they want me to register for a PACER account and pay up to $3 a document.

    In my Google, I did find an interesting Yale Law Journal [1] article that mentioned this case, that when on to say that repealing the Jones Act is basically DOA due to lobbying interests.

    [1] The Yale Law Journal https://www.yalelawjournal.org The Neglected Port Preference Clause and the Jones Act

  • by Peritract on 5/1/23, 3:10 PM

    > Its operator was lucky not to be fined $350 million

    If the courts actually want to discourage this behaviour, they should have levied the fine

  • by exabrial on 5/1/23, 10:55 PM

    Why are we calling the railroad absurd and not the Jones Act?