The Jones Act industry in Puerto Rico paid for a study of its own trade. It was completed in May 2013. It has never been released.^[4][5][7] The study was prepared for La Alianza Maritima de Puerto Rico, an industry trade association that represents Jones Act ship operators and maritime unions.^[5] The article that reported it insists the report should be public.^[7] The numbers we do have are stark. For container ships, the US-foreign cost ratio is 4.75. For barges, it is 1.93.^[1] The USITC estimated the cost of the Jones Act at $1.84 billion in 2015 dollars in 1999, and $860 million in 2015 dollars in 2002.^[2] Those are the law's own bills. The hidden study could have implications for other noncontiguous trades: Alaska, Guam, and Hawaii.^[8] Alaska tried to change the law through the Supreme Court in 1922, but the Court refused because Alaska was not a state.^[10] Non-contiguous states and territories lack highway and rail alternatives to waterborne transport.^[11] High freight makes exports from these areas less competitive than imports from other nations, and it costs jobs and worsens the trade deficit.^[12][13] The read here is that the industry hides the study because it would show these costs. The law is Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920.^[15] It requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged, U.S.-owned, and U.S.-crewed ships.^[17] In 1988, Congress extended it to valueless material like dredge spoil and municipal solid waste.^[19] Cheaper ships would create more U.S. seafarer and ship repair jobs and improve service to shippers.^[14] Routes across the Great Lakes that are not subject to the law could alleviate severe congestion.^[3] This series has argued the law should be repealed. The industry hides its own study. The cost ratio for container ships is 4.75. That is the bill.