President Donald Trump’s decision to extend the waiver for the Jones Act, a controversial maritime law, has not been without its detractors.
The waiver was issued shortly after the U.S. ordered attacks on Iran, and now after over 60 days of war, the Trump administration extended the waiver for another 90 days.
According to Hawaii Shippers Council President Mike Hansen, who spoke with HPR in April, while members of the maritime industry initially protested the waiver, legal challenges have yet to be filed over it.
As of late April, an estimated 40 oil tankers have taken advantage of the waiver — but none have come to Hawaiʻi.
To weigh in, HPR spoke with Melissa Pavlicek, the executive director of the Hawaiʻi Harbors Users Group. HHUG is a trade organization that represents major shipping carriers like Matson, Pasha Hawaii and Young Brothers, as well as union groups that work Hawaiʻi’s harbors.
Interview Highlights
On the shipping industry's support for the Jones Act
MELISSA PAVLICEK: We have not opposed the waiver. Our understanding of the Jones Act waiver is that it's pertinent to military needs and that it doesn't apply to regular commercial shipping. But the bottom line is, we continue to believe and support the Jones Act because it's a time-proven system for ensuring reliable shipping to Hawaiʻi. And you know, we have heard critics of the Jones Act say that it just adds to our shipping costs.
You know, the Jones Act, its primary purpose, or its most pertinent use, for Hawaiʻi, is the assurance that we'll have a stable, reliable domestic system. So it does not prevent foreign ships from coming to Hawaiʻi. In fact, foreign vessels regularly call on Hawaiʻi ports going through Honolulu Harbor. The cost, we've seen economists estimate something like 1% to 5% of Hawaiʻi cost of hoods relates to the Jones Act. But overall, if we did not have the Jones Act, we would be risking having that consistent, reliable source of goods.
On shipping and energy concerns amid the Iran war
PAVLICEK: The Hawaiʻi Harbors Users Group just received an energy briefing from one of our members, and we're not currently seeing any impacts in Hawaiʻi from the shipping issues concerning energy supply to Hawaii, but I know that is something that we're monitoring closely. We recently received a briefing from the state Department of Transportation, and our harbors deputy informed us that they've been very successful in getting over $100 million of federal funds for Hawaiʻi for harbor's infrastructure, and that seems really important to lowering costs overall in Hawaiʻi.
On Hawaiʻi’s supply chain and shipping dependence
PAVLICEK: When we're talking about the price of energy, the price of toilet paper, toothpaste or anything that we have to ship here, the shipping portion is just one of many factors. So the entire supply chain can get disrupted when there are conflicts out there. You can't really speak to how long that might last, but definitely want to assure that we have consistent, reliable service, especially being so geographically isolated.
The fact is that over 80% of all our goods in Hawaiʻi are shipped here, and up to 90 plus percent are through the supply chain, either through shipping or air transport. So there's just no avoiding the fact that we need to have things shipped in. And this Jones Act, as well as our hub-and-spoke system, where everything comes through Honolulu Harbor, you know, this is really the time-proven strategies that we need to keep our economy flowing.
The Hawaiʻi Harbors Users Group has launched a website called Supply Chain Hawaiʻi, where users can access information about Hawaiʻi’s supply chain. More information can be found here.
This story aired on The Conversation on May 6, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
