Jones Act Temporarily Waived For Puerto Rico To Bring In Relief Supplies

Now foreign-flagged vessels also will be able to move shipments from the US mainland to Puerto Rico and between ports there.

Ricardo Rossello, Puerto Rico’s governor, also urged the White House to lift the shipping restrictions, which is why Huckabee Sanders directly mentioned his Twitter account in her Thursday morning tweet. The reason was “in the interest of the nation’s defense”, according to DHS spokesman David Lapan.

Trump mulls waiving law that ties up relief efforts in P.R.

The Jones Act, formally the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, is an obscure federal law that prohibits foreign ships from shuttling goods between USA ports, specifically the US mainland and outlying states or territories.

Passed in 1920, it mandates that vessels moving between US ports be built and registered in the country, and crewed by Americans.

The Trump administration had previously said a waiver was not needed, because there were enough us -flagged ships available to ferry goods to Puerto Rico.

The waiver will guarantee the needed equipment to fix infrastructure damaged by the storm and restore emergency services, Duke said in a news release.

The hurricanes will cost Southwest Airlines $100 million in revenue. There is virtually no electricity and little phone service. Hurricane Irma then hit the Caribbean in early September before striking Florida. The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital city, said Friday the situation has been worsening with severe shortages of food, water and fuel.

The Trump administration initially said a waiver was not needed for Puerto Rico because there were enough US -flagged ships available to ferry goods to the island.

“They can not wait a month, we can not wait”, Solivan said.

The medical community is also lacking supplies and people. There are long lines at cash machines, Mendoza reports, with customers hoping to get access to their funds before the machines’ generators are shut down when the banks close. The hospital provides healthcare to the poor, but they may have to shut down. (You might be able to help with that if you’ve got trucking qualifications.) Meanwhile, the Trump administration is reportedly utilizing a discretionary practice to require evacuees to pay their full travel costs.