White House Set to Extend Jones Act Shipping Waiver

By Amara Osei

President Donald Trump’s administration had granted about 48 Jones Act waivers under its limited August exemption when four industry sources said on Thursday that the White House was preparing to extend the waiver in coming days.

The extension would allow some foreign-flagged ships to carry oil and other commodities between US ports, subject to individual voyage approvals. Two sources said each voyage would undergo case-by-case review rather than foreign ships receiving a blanket exemption.

One source said the extension could come as early as Thursday. A White House official said, “No decision has yet been made on the extension of the Jones Act waiver,” adding that any announcement would come directly from President Trump or his administration.

The administration last extended the waiver in August through November 15. That run had already made it the longest waiver in the Jones Act’s more than 100-year history. For now, the official position is that a decision may be imminent but has not happened. Administrative speed, in other words, remains theoretical.

What does the extension change for fuel shippers?

It gives them a potential route to more tanker capacity without reopening the Jones Act to unrestricted foreign participation. The administration says the waiver can increase shipping flexibility, reduce transport bottlenecks and, in turn, lower gasoline and diesel prices.

The Jones Act normally requires cargo between US ports to move on ships “built in the US, owned by US companies and crewed by American workers.” For shippers, an approved foreign-flag voyage could add scheduling flexibility without displacing the broader Jones Act fleet.

Carriers could use selected foreign tonnage only on approved cargoes, rather than gain broad, lasting market access. Forwarders would need to treat approval timing as a gating item in each move. The change opens a route to capacity; it does not create an automatic supply boom.

How much relief is possible?

The administration has cited lower pump prices as a goal while conflicts involving Iran and Ukraine have pushed those costs higher. AAA’s Thursday averages put US gasoline at $3.91 a gallon, compared with $2.98 before the US-Iran war.

Diesel stood at $6.10 a gallon, up from $3.76. The $2.34 increase equals $2,340 on a 1,000-gallon fill-up, while diesel’s premium over gasoline widened from $0.78 to $2.19 per gallon.

Analysts and industry experts have said the additional tanker availability would likely reduce gasoline prices by only pennies per gallon. More tankers can ease congestion, but they cannot erase the fuel-cost shock created by the wars. Shippers may get marginally more capacity; they should not treat the waiver as a broad reversal in diesel costs.

How much capacity is available?

Administration data show about 300 waivers under the blanket regime in March and May, followed by about 48 under narrower exemptions from August. The apparent drop does not establish a fleet contraction because the rules and coverage changed.

These figures count waivers, not tanker capacity. No operator, vessel size, tonnage or cargo-volume breakdown accompanied the data, so they cannot show how much additional fuel or other commodity volume might move. For a shipper, a waiver count is a permit count, not a measurable barrel count.

That uncertainty leaves the commercial benefit open-ended. A shipper can see that approval volume fell as review tightened, but not whether the remaining approvals represent larger tankers, smaller vessels or numerous low-volume movements. The capacity available under any extension therefore remains an estimate rather than a bankable figure.

For forwarders, the waiver is a source of potential flexibility, not guaranteed space. Any carrier commitments, voyage volumes and cargo nominations would matter more than another round of headline approval totals. The measure may improve access, but its first-order effect remains difficult to size.

The policy test

If the White House approves the extension, the policy will shift from broad March and May coverage to controlled, voyage-by-voyage access under a waiver already running until November 15. The coming announcement will show whether the administration treats the measure as a near-term fuel-price intervention or a longer bridge for domestic shipping.

The next test is whether the new approvals add enough tanker passages to remove bottlenecks. Unless they do, shippers should not expect more than pennies-per-gallon relief.