I think you are missing the point i was trying to make. There is absolutely no financial incentive for a us company to re-flag to compete with foreign tonnage on non-protected routes. However, if you removed the immense cost of US built ships, and allowed re-flag ships in the Jones act trade, even with the higher costs of US crews, they could be competitive. The comparison would be the higher crew cost for the much shorter voyage, vs the lower crew costs vs the 2 longer voyages. I hope that makes it a bit clearer.