US President Donald Trump will continue to waive domestic shipping requirements under the Jones Act for another 90 days, a White House official told Argus.
The current waiver extension was slated to expire on 15 November, but the administration chose to make the third extension of the waiver despite domestic maritime interests [calling on the president to not renew it](https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2900228).
"The Jones Act waiver allows states additional flexibility to source products given supply disruptions due to ongoing international conflicts," the White House told Argus.
The US administration initially waived the Jones Act — which allows only US-flagged, US-owned and US-crewed vessels to carry US-to-US shipments — on 17 March on national security grounds, opening up domestic shipping to foreign vessels.
But some of the voyages conducted under the waiver have been criticized by the domestic maritime industry as not serving any national security purpose, with the waiver otherwise proving highly popular with US refiners.
The waiver was extended in May and again in August, when the process switched from an automatic blanket approval to a case-by-case review in which the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) consults with the domestic maritime community to assess the availability of domestic vessels to carry a cargo before deciding to approve or deny a request.
The combination of increased scrutiny by MARAD, high international tanker rates and the clarification by US authorities that foreign vessels using the waiver would still be subject to US taxes have lowered the use of the most recent iteration of Jones Act waivers by foreign shipowners.
While the case-by-case review process is seen as an improvement, the Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA) said the process still operates with almost no transparency. There is no real-time public reporting of which requests are approved or denied, and approved movements continue to be posted late and in batches, sometimes weeks or months after the fact, OMSA tells Argus.
The American Maritime Partnership (AMP), which represents domestic shipping interests, today urged the administration to continue scrutinizing all waiver requests using the case-by-case process to ensure waivers meet the statutory standard of military necessity and are not used to displace American vessels and American workers for routine commercial moves.
"AMP calls for a prompt end to the waiver and looks forward to working with the Administration to advance our shared goal of restoring American maritime dominance by unleashing investment in rebuilding and growing the US domestic fleet," the group said today.
