In response to the ongoing conflict in Iran, the Trump administration issued a 60-day temporary waiver of the Jones Act to address short-term disruptions to the oil market—now exceeding over $100 per barrel— and constraints on vital resources (such as fertilizer) due to Iran’s threat to ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
The American Farm Bureau noted that using the Waiver would ensure reliable fertilizer imports and prevent "disruptions to the food supply chain not seen since 2022."
The Jones Act waiver allows foreign-flagged vessels already in the region to assist in moving critical supplies (fuel, food, construction materials) between U.S. ports, bypassing the shortage of compliant domestic ships. While the waiver is intended to counter surging retail gasoline and diesel prices and provide relief for agricultural commodities, it may have a limited impact. Even if more fuel or urea can be moved by non-Jones Act-compliant vessels, landside operators will need additional levers and interventions to support increased capacity.
A Jones Act waiver should be viewed as one tool in a series to support volume and reliability of fuel operations. During Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the Colonial Pipeline hack (2021), waivers allowed foreign tankers to act as a floating pipeline to support surge capacity and reliable fuel availability. The primary benefit was not a nationally lower price per gallon, but ensuring that fuel was available to impacted regions. For emergency managers, a Jones Act waiver and subsequent supply stabilization can also be viewed as a tool to avoid having to implement emergency fuel rationing.
About the Jones Act
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (known as the Jones Act) requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on ships that are U.S.-built, U.S.-owned, U.S.-crewed, and U.S.-flagged.
Under 46 U.S.C. § 501, waivers can be granted by the Secretary of Homeland Security in the interest of national defense or to address immediate supply gaps during disasters.
The Jones Act does not require that goods transported between foreign and U.S. ports adhere to these requirements.
Previous waiver implementation
During national events like hurricanes, a waiver is often used to move petroleum products from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast or Atlantic islands (e.g., Puerto Rico) when domestic tanker capacity is insufficient to prevent a fuel crisis. Additionally, the replenishment of palletized items (food products) and bulk materials (lumber, generators, and heavy machinery) is facilitated by using the global fleet rather than waiting for Jones Act-compliant vessels to become available. In previous instances of Jones Act waivers, fuel prices did not drop significantly nationally. Instead, the Jones Act waiver served as an effective way to stabilize fuel prices and availability in areas like the U.S. East Coast (PADD 1) and Puerto Rico, which are geographically isolated from U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.
Conflict with Iran
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz (disrupting 20% of global crude) has created severe impacts on the global fuel market. In the United States, gasoline prices have jumped over 22% in the last month due to crude oil costs. The transport of fuel is just one of many factors that determine prices at the pump, and waivers are not expected to fully offset current global supply disruptions.
With the Jones Act waiver, retail gasoline prices could be expected to drop by $0.01-0.03 per gallon. During the conflict with Iran, Asian fuel markets are similarly volatile. Guam traditionally relies on fuel from Singapore, so while a Jones Act waiver that allows U.S.-sourced fuel to be legally transported to Guam on any available vessel, it may not be financially viable for operators.
Similarly, Puerto Rico can be prioritized for domestic fuel shipments that would otherwise be legally barred if U.S. vessels weren't immediately available. Because Jones Act shipping makes coastwise transport expensive, East Coast refineries often import crude from international suppliers rather than shipping oil from the Gulf Coast.
Waiving the Jones Act could allow foreign-flagged tankers to move oil from the Gulf to East Coast refineries.
Currently, fewer than 100 tankers are Jones Act compliant, while over 7,000 tankers can transport petroleum products. That does not mean these tankers are available for domestic use or that producers and refineries will be able to maximize their capacity.
Current waiver implementation
The Trump Administration issued a 60-day waiver to vessels moving “vital resources like oil, natural gas, fertilizer, and coal” among U.S. ports. While waivers increase the number of ships, they do not increase capacity elsewhere in the transportation and logistics infrastructure. Additionally, the United States and the EIA have released 172 million barrels of emergency reserves in an effort to further reduce rising fuel prices and scarcity. A waiver may increase the availability of transport for these barrels.
In addition to fuel, the waiver also applies to fertilizer. Nitrogen fertilizers such as urea are critical for crop production and domestic food output depends heavily on their availability during the planting window. The U.S. Department of Agriculture notes that fertilizer shortages or distribution disruptions during planting periods can reduce yields and contribute to higher food prices in subsequent harvest cycles, with impacts extending across multiple months following planting. In this context, transportation and logistics disruptions affecting fertilizer distribution during the planting season present a potential risk to agricultural productivity and domestic food supply stability.
Operational considerations for emergency managers
While a waiver can be helpful to increase fuel capacity, the potential to offset the current cost increase is not expected to have a significant impact. Access to available fertilizer and other agricultural inputs will help stabilize crop and food production.
Port operators will prepare for foreign-flagged tankers that may not be familiar with specific U.S. port security or communication protocols.
While the Jones Act increases vessel capacity, it does not increase the capacity of port operations, rail lines, fuel pipelines, or trucking, and goods may remain stuck at the port. Emergency managers should help prioritize corridors, ensuring that rail and trucks leaving the port have clear routes and expedited access to regional staging areas. If local trucking or rail infrastructure is damaged from another hazard (e.g. a hurricane), it will further constrict the available capacity.
Summary
While a Jones Act waiver provides a potential pressure release valve for maritime capacity, it is a tool rather than a total solution. Emergency managers must view it as one component of a broader multimodal logistics strategy and should consider ways to support private-sector partners to increase flow wherever possible.
