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.