Shipping still can cause us grief

Even though the West Coast dock dispute is settled — and the Jones Act carriers serving Hawaii hadn’t been affected anyway — shipping costs remain a big concern in this state. And loosening that federal act, which regulates shipping between U.S. ports, is still on the state Capitol agenda, and for a growing list of supporters.

Concurrent resolutions seeking to exempt Hawaii from one provision of the Jones Act drew signatures from nine state senators and five House members. The exemption would release Hawaii from the act requirement that ships going between U.S. ports be domestically built. This would lower capital costs for shipbuilding and lead to greater competition and moderate freight costs, advocates have said.

Meanwhile, the aftershocks of the labor slowdown, including delays because of the backlog of cargo on the docks, continue. And it’s not clear Hawaii is immune from those effects.

Too bad we all don’t earn $12M

For most of us folks, $12.2 million is a stunning figure. But for James Robo, chairman, president and CEO of NextEra Energy Inc., that’s his annual income — total compensation for 2014, more precisely.

NextEra, of course, is the Florida-based company proposing to purchase Hawaiian Electric Industries — a deal that still has to be approved by the state Public Utilities Commission.

When you’re breathing that kind of rarefied air, the $10 million that HEI CEO Connie Lau would get if the purchase goes through doesn’t seem so exorbitant. Well, no, it still does.