Compilation of Maritime Law

Compilation of Maritime Laws
January, 2008

08-03474

Compilation
of
Maritime
Laws
[As amended through the First Session of the 109th Congress]

January, 2008

COMPILATION OF
MARITIME LAWS
[As amended through the first session of the 110th Congress – plus
Public Law 110-181, approved January 28, 2008 (122 STAT. 3)]

JANUARY, 2008

Prepared by the Office of Chief Counsel, Maritime Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE. Washington, DC 20590
Tel. No. 202-366-5711, Fax. No. 202-366-7485

Compliation of Maritime Laws.pdf1 1

12/5/2008 10:05:10 AM

MERCHANT MARINE GENERAL
CHAPTER 501—POLICY, STUDIES, AND REPORTS.
46 U.S.C. 50101 (2007). Objectives and policy.
(a) Objectives. It is necessary for the national defense and the
development of the domestic and foreign commerce of the United States
that the United States have a merchant marine-(1) sufficient to carry the waterborne domestic commerce and a
substantial part of the waterborne export and import foreign commerce
of the United States and to provide shipping service essential for
maintaining the flow of the waterborne domestic and foreign commerce
at all times;
(2) capable of serving as a naval and military auxiliary in time of war
or national emergency;
(3) owned and operated as vessels of the United States by citizens of
the United States;
(4) composed of the best-equipped, safest, and most suitable types of
vessels and manned with a trained and efficient citizen personnel; and
(5) supplemented by efficient facilities for building and repairing
vessels.
(b) Policy. It is the policy of the United States to encourage and aid the
development and maintenance of a merchant marine satisfying the
objectives described in subsection (a).
46 U.S.C. 50102 (2007). Survey of merchant marine.
(a) In general. The Secretary of Transportation shall survey the
merchant marine of the United States to determine whether replacements
and additions are required to carry out the objectives and policy of
section 50101 of this title. The Secretary shall study, perfect, and adopt a
long-range program for replacements and additions that will result, as
soon as practicable, in-(1) an adequate and well-balanced merchant fleet, including vessels of
all types, that will provide shipping service essential for maintaining the
flow of foreign commerce by vessels designed to be readily and quickly
convertible into transport and supply vessels in a time of national
emergency;
(2) ownership and operation of the fleet by citizens of the United
States insofar as practicable;
(3) vessels designed to afford the best and most complete protection
for passengers and crew against fire and all marine perils; and
149

Compliation of Maritime Laws.pdf183 183

12/5/2008 10:05:21 AM

(4) an efficient capacity for building and repairing vessels in the
United States with an adequate number of skilled personnel to provide
an adequate mobilization base.
(b) Cooperation with Secretary of Navy. In carrying out subsection
(a)(1), the Secretary of Transportation shall cooperate closely with the
Secretary of the Navy as to national defense requirements.
46 U.S.C. 50103 (2007). Determinations of essential services.
(a) Essential services, routes, and lines.
(1) In general. The Secretary of Transportation shall investigate,
determine, and keep current records of the ocean services, routes, and
lines from ports in the United States, or in the territories and possessions
of the United States, to foreign markets, which the Secretary determines
to be essential for the promotion, development, expansion, and
maintenance of the foreign commerce of the United States. In making
such a determination, the Secretary shall consider and give due weight
to-(A) the cost of maintaining each line;
(B) the probability that a line cannot be maintained except at a heavy
loss disproportionate to the benefit to foreign trade;
(C) the number of voyages and types of vessels that should be
employed in a line;
(D) the intangible benefit of maintaining a line to the foreign
commerce of the United States, the national defense, and other national
requirements; and
(E) any other facts and conditions a prudent business person would
consider when dealing with the person's own business.
(2) Saint Lawrence Seaway. For purposes of paragraph (1), the
Secretary shall establish services, routes, and lines that reflect the
seasonal closing of the Saint Lawrence Seaway and provide for alternate
routing of vessels through a different range of ports during that closing
to maintain continuity of service on a year-round basis.
(b) Bulk cargo carrying services. The Secretary shall investigate,
determine, and keep current records of the bulk cargo carrying services
that should be provided by vessels of the United States (whether or not
operating on particular services, routes, or lines) for the promotion,
development, expansion, and maintenance of the foreign commerce of
the United States and the national defense or other national
requirements.
(c) Types of vessels. The Secretary shall investigate, determine, and
keep current records of the type, size, speed, method of propulsion, and
150

Compliation of Maritime Laws.pdf184 184

12/5/2008 10:05:21 AM

other requirements of the vessels, including express-liner or super-liner
vessels, that should be employed in-(1) the services, routes, or lines described in subsection (a), and the
frequency and regularity of the voyages of the vessels, with a view to
furnishing adequate, regular, certain, and permanent service; and
(2) the bulk cargo carrying services described in subsection (b).
46 U.S.C. 50104 (2007). Studies of general maritime problems. The
Secretary of Transportation shall study all maritime problems arising in
carrying out the policy in section 50101 of this title.
46 U.S.C. 50105 (2007). Studies and cooperation relating to the
construction of vessels.
(a) Relative costs and new designs. The Secretary of Transportation
shall investigate, determine, and keep current records of-(1) the relative cost of construction of comparable vessels in the
United States and in foreign countries; and
(2) new designs, new methods of construction, and new types of
equipment for vessels.
(b) Rules, classifications, and ratings. The Secretary shall examine the
rules under which vessels are constructed abroad and in the United
States and the methods of classifying and rating the vessels.
(c) Collaboration with owners and builders. The Secretary shall
collaborate with vessel owners and shipbuilders in developing plans for
the economical construction of vessels and their propelling machinery,
of most modern economical types, giving thorough consideration to all
well-recognized means of propulsion and taking into account the
benefits from standardized production where practicable and desirable.
(d) Express-liner and super-liner vessels. The Secretary shall study
and cooperate with vessel owners in devising means by which there may
be constructed, by or with the aid of the United States Government,
express-liner or super-liner vessels comparable to those of other nations,
especially with a view to their use in a national emergency, and the use
of transoceanic aircraft service in connection with or in lieu of those
vessels.
46 U.S.C. 50106 (2007). Studies on the operation of vessels.
(a) Relative costs. The Secretary of Transportation shall investigate,
determine, and keep current records of the relative cost of marine
insurance, maintenance, repairs, wages and subsistence of officers and
crews, and all other items of expense, in the operation of comparable
151

Compliation of Maritime Laws.pdf185 185

12/5/2008 10:05:21 AM

vessels under the laws and regulations of the United States and those of
the foreign countries whose vessels are substantial competitors of
American vessels.
(b) Shipyards. The Secretary shall investigate, determine, and keep
current records of the number, location, and efficiency of shipyards in
the United States.
(c) Navigation laws. The Secretary shall examine the navigation laws
and regulations of the United States and make such recommendations to
Congress as the Secretary considers proper for the amendment,
improvement, and revision of those laws and for the development of the
merchant marine of the United States.
46 U.S.C. 50107 (2007). Studies on marine insurance. The Secretary
of Transportation shall-(1) examine into the subject of marine insurance, the number of
companies in the United States, domestic and foreign, engaging in
marine insurance, the extent of the insurance on hulls and cargoes placed
or written in the United States, and the extent of reinsurance of
American maritime risks in foreign companies; and
(2) ascertain what steps may be necessary to develop an ample marine
insurance system as an aid in the development of the merchant marine of
the United States.
46 U.S.C. 50108 (2007). Studies on cargo carriage and cargo
containers.
(a) Studies. The Secretary of Transportation shall study-(1) the methods of encouraging the development and implementation
of new concepts for the carriage of cargo in the domestic and foreign
commerce of the United States; and
(2) the economic and technological aspects of the use of cargo
containers as a method of carrying out the policy in section 50101 of this
title.
(b) Restriction. In carrying out subsection (a) and the policy in section
50101 of this title, the United States Government may not give
preference as between carriers based on the length, height, or width of
cargo containers or the length, height, or width of cargo container cells.
This restriction applies to all existing container vessels and any
container vessel to be constructed or rebuilt.

152

Compliation of Maritime Laws.pdf186 186

12/5/2008 10:05:21 AM