Jones Act Waiver Returned As Incomplete

The U.S. Customs Service said that a request for a Jones Act shipping waiver that would have allowed foreign ships to move oil between U.S. ports was returned as incomplete. "We sent it back to the group that sent it a few days after it was submitted because it lacked important information," said a Customs official. "We no longer have an active request in hand." The request was submitted January 5 by the Independent Fuel Terminal Operators Association (IFTOA), a Northeast heating oil trade group, in order to ensure healthy supplies of heating oil to Northeast consumers this winter. IFTOA's attorney was not immediately available for comment. Normally requests for waivers from the Jones Act are processed and decided in a matter of days because they are granted in cases of emergency, the Customs official said. - (Reuters)