The 2026 Jones Act waiver for fuel shipping

The Jones Act requires goods moved by sea between US ports to travel on ships that are US-built, US-owned and crewed by US citizens.^1,3 On 17 March 2026, with oil markets disrupted by the war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the Department of Homeland Security issued a 60-day waiver letting foreign-flagged ships carry fuel and other energy goods between US ports.^2,3 It has since been extended; the American Action Forum reported in September that it runs to 15 November 2026.² The sources count the goods covered differently: 619 product categories by the American Action Forum's account, 659 commodities by the Center for Maritime Strategy's.^2,3

Tanker and barge shipments of petroleum from the Gulf Coast to the West Coast reached 190,000 barrels a day in April, according to the US Energy Information Administration.¹ That was up from under 30,000 in January and February and more than double the previous record.¹ Shipments from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast reached a record 1.2 million barrels a day in April.¹ The American Action Forum, citing the Cato Institute's waiver tracker, put petroleum shipments on foreign ships under the waiver over the first 160 days at 15.5 million barrels to the West Coast, 19.3 million to the East Coast and 6.2 million to Puerto Rico.²

The sources disagree about what it achieved. The American Action Forum estimates savings of about $100 to $110 million over the waiver's eight months, while noting that gasoline stayed above $4 a gallon for most of the period because of the global supply shock.² A May analysis for the Center for Maritime Strategy, which counted about 2.5 million barrels in nine relevant tanker loads by late April, found no perceptible effect on gasoline prices and argued the waiver weakens investment in US shipping.³

Who needs an answer

• Congress and the administration, deciding whether to extend the waiver, let it lapse or change the law.
• Fuel buyers in Florida, which relies on fuel shipped from the Gulf Coast, and on the West Coast and in Puerto Rico, where many waiver cargoes went.^1,2
• US shipowners, shipyards and maritime academies, whose business and training berths the Act's supporters say it sustains.³

The domains it chains

Refinery output on the Gulf Coast; the pipelines that carry most fuel inland and the tankers that fill the gaps; prices at the pump in each region; Puerto Rico's fuel and propane supply; and the US merchant fleet.

What a twin should let people try

• Routes: which coastal routes would ships use if the waiver were permanent, and which only in a crisis?
• Prices: how much of a region's fuel price comes from the cost of shipping it, compared with the world price of oil?
• The fleet: how would a permanent change affect the number of US-flagged tankers available when they are needed?

Where to start

The EIA publishes monthly figures for petroleum moved by tanker and barge between US regions.¹ The Maritime Administration posts a worksheet of the cargoes, load ports and destination ports moved under the waiver.³