US extends shipping law waiver 90 days, to allow freer movement of oil, commodities

WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump extended for 90 days a waiver of a shipping law to allow foreign-flagged ships to transport oil and other commodities between US ports, a White House official said on Friday.

Reuters reported on Thursday that industry sources said the administration would extend the waiver on the more than 100-year-old Jones Act. 

It has been the longest waiver in the history of the shipping law.

The administration issued a blanket waiver in March, a month after the US launched the war on Iran, in an effort to lower oil and fuel prices. In August, it extended the waiver but mandated that decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis, a stipulation continued through the latest waiver.  

The ⁠Jones Act requires cargo moving between US ports to be carried on ships built in the US, owned by US companies and crewed by American workers. Allowing the waiver aims to lower gas, diesel and fertilizer prices driven up by the war on Iran by increasing shipping flexibility and reducing transport bottlenecks.

Since the waiver was issued in March, an additional 90 million barrels of petroleum, mostly refined, have been shipped between US ports, the White House said. The total includes 27 million barrels of gasoline, 26 million barrels of crude oil, and 6 million barrels of renewable fuels.

The length of waivers has been limited in the past as the Jones Act is supported by the domestic shipbuilding business, a powerful lobby across the country.   

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Arathy Somasekhar and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Andrea Ricci)