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Jones Act Waiver Nears End Amid Industry Divide

[ November 13, 2026   //   ]

A temporary Jones Act waiver that opened U.S. domestic trades to foreign-flag vessels is scheduled to expire Nov. 15, with maritime interests and free-market advocates divided over what its use reveals about the coastwise fleet.

The waiver was introduced in March during an energy-supply disruption and initially applied broadly. Since August, the government has reviewed proposed movements voyage by voyage after requesting information about qualified U.S.-flag vessel availability.

The Cato Institute’s Jones Act Waiver Tracker counted 337 voyages carrying more than 90 million barrels through early November. Colin Grabow, associate director of Cato’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies, said government data do not capture every voyage, making those figures a minimum.

Grabow said the government has not published enough information to determine how many applications were rejected because qualified U.S. vessels were available. He also said the waiver’s effects on consumer fuel prices, inventories and supply availability have not been reliably quantified.

He argued that the movements exposed cost, capacity and vessel-type gaps within the Jones Act fleet. More than 15 voyages involved vessel types absent from the fleet, including dry bulk carriers, small chemical tankers and liquefied petroleum gas tankers, he said.

Energy Industry Backs Flexibility

The American Petroleum Institute defended the waivers as a means of sustaining fuel movements during disrupted markets.

“Jones Act waivers have proven to be an important tool for delivering critical supplies during extraordinary market disruptions, particularly to the West Coast,” API Vice President of Federal Relations Jack Cramton said. “As the conflict in Iran continues to strain global energy markets, maintaining flexibility to transport fuel reliably and efficiently across the country is essential.”

API said practical policy should support both domestic shipping and energy interests while maintaining reliable access to affordable fuel. It did not provide figures for waiver-related voyages, cargo volumes, vessel availability or effects on consumer prices, referring those questions to the Maritime Administration.

Maritime Industry Sees Investment Threat

The American Waterways Operators and American Maritime Partnership contend that the waiver exceeded its emergency purpose without producing measurable relief at the pump.

Jennifer Carpenter, president and CEO of AWO and president of AMP, said the voyage-by-voyage procedure introduced in August improved upon the original blanket waiver. However, she said vessel-availability requests indicate that shippers have sought waivers unrelated to a defense or national emergency.

AMP estimates the uncertainty has put at risk at least US$2.6 billion in U.S. shipbuilding investment and US$700 million in potential investment in new U.S. dredges.

The shipbuilding figure comes from a study prepared for the Transportation Institute. AMP said its dredging estimate was developed through discussions with industry sources. Its Nov. 3 letter to President Donald Trump described the investments as delayed or deferred amid waiver uncertainty.

Grabow disputed that interpretation. He said dredging was not covered by the waiver and limited U.S. commercial shipbuilding long predates it. The U.S. accounted for 0.03 percent of global commercial shipbuilding output in 2025, and no tanker has been delivered by a U.S. shipyard since 2017, he said.

Carpenter maintained that repeatedly waiving coastwise requirements undermines the investment certainty needed to finance vessels and expand the domestic fleet.

“We cannot possibly hope to ‘restore American maritime dominance’ while undermining the foundation of the American domestic maritime industry,” she said. “Waiving the Jones Act should be saved for extraordinary national emergencies as intended by law.”

The approaching expiration leaves the administration to decide whether the waiver still addresses an emergency, should remain available under a narrower procedure or has become a broader test of U.S. coastwise transportation policy.

MARAD, which evaluates vessel availability during the waiver process, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection had not responded to FBJNA questions by press time.

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