The ship-to-shelf supply chain refers to the complex network of activities involved in transporting goods by sea, air and land from their origin to their destination here in the islands. Just-in-time delivery reduces the costs of warehousing and ensures products and food are continuously stocked on store shelves.

With Hawaiʻi’s remote location in the middle of the Pacific and relatively small population, frequent replenishment of essential supplies is critical to maintaining its high standard of living.

Sailing ships and steamers began serving Hawaiʻi over 180 years ago. Today’s modern containerized ships continue that long tradition of reliable service to Hawaiʻi.

Also known as the U.S. Merchant Marine Act of 1920, the Jones Act is a federal law that regulates maritime shipping between U.S. ports. It requires that all goods transported from one U.S. port to another be carried on ships that are U.S.-owned, U.S.-built and U.S.-crewed.

Ocean shipping is Hawaiʻi’s lifeline to the mainland U.S. and is responsible for bringing in more than 90% of the goods Hawaiʻi needs. The Jones Act secures this crucial supply line, ensuring that it will be served by reliable U.S. entities. Without the Jones Act, foreign carriers would service routes during peak seasons and leave the state during slower, less profitable seasons, upsetting the reliable shipping schedules Hawaiʻi has enjoyed for more than a century. With no loyalty to these islands, foreign carriers would be solely driven by profit, abandoning Hawaiʻi if they felt they could make more money elsewhere.

The shortest, fastest shipping route between Asia and the U.S. West Coast is known as the Great Circle Route, which traces an arc through the northern Pacific, past the Aleutian Islands and Alaska and down the coast of North America. Hawaiʻi is actually 1,000 miles south of this busy trade lane – which would be a costly diversion for a market as small as Hawaiʻi, when virtually all of the cargo is destined for the U.S. mainland, Asia’s #1 market.

There is a cost to transporting goods anywhere. Hawaiʻi’s remote location makes ocean shipping by far the most cost efficient and reliable system available to meet Hawaiʻi’s needs. For decades, local economists have identified real estate values (housing) and energy costs as the leading drivers of Hawaiʻi’s cost of living, pegging shipping’s contribution at 3 percent or less of average consumer goods prices.