After Flurry of Hurricane Waivers, Calls for Coastwise Changes Recede
After Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, the Department of Homeland Security issued waivers allowing carriage of cargo by non-coastwise qualified vessels in the Gulf region and to and from Puerto Rico. The authors of this article discuss the controversy surrounding these waivers, the implications to the Jones Act, and the future of such waivers.
In September 2017, in response to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) issued a series of widely publicized waivers allowing carriage of cargo by non-coastwise qualified vessels in the Gulf region and to and from Puerto Rico. Public interest in the Jones Act spiked in mid-September, and some members of Congress introduced legislation for longer-term relief, particularly for Puerto Rico. Although controversial, the waivers for the most part seemed to achieve their intended goal, allowing for additional capacity to be available to move certain critical cargoes, particularly in the energy and other bulk sectors.
As discussed in more detail below, the way the waivers were granted was relatively unique in the context of hurricanes, and some controversy arose with regard to the Puerto Rico waiver. The waivers, however, expired as planned with no significant fanfare or controversy, and broader political and public interest in the Jones Act subsided after a flurry of activity.
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“After Flurry of Hurricane Waivers, Calls for Coastwise Changes Recede,” by Matthew J. Thomas, Jonathan K. Waldron, and Jeanne M. Grasso was published in the May 2018 edition of Pratt’s Energy Law Report (Vol. 18-5), an A.S. Pratt Publication, LexisNexis. Reprinted with permission.
This article was first published in the March 2018 edition of Mainbrace, Blank Rome’s quarterly maritime newsletter.