You immediately gain economies of scale. The massive international cargo haulers can suddenly stop at Puerto Rico on the way to Miami.

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Instead we have to unload the cargo from the supermax ships, reload it onto tiny american merchant ships, then sail it back to the island. Not only does this add costs because of delays (it can add weeks to delivery times) but unnecessarily burns fuel.

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You can also send emergency supplies much easier. In fact one of the reasons PR keeps getting insane delays on supplies after storms is because the government has to wait until the feds temporarily waive the jones act to send help, because we have effectively no merchant marine anymore.