HQ 0112032 - Coastwise Trade; Pipe-laying; 46 U.S.C. App. 883; - United States International Trade Commision Rulings

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HQ 112032

January 21, 1992

VES-3-16-CO:R:IT:C 112032 RAH

CATEGORY: CARRIER

Mr. Louis B. Porteris, Esquire
4000 General de Gaulle Drive, Suite 300
New Orleans, Louisiana 70114

RE: Coastwise Trade; Pipe-laying; 46 U.S.C. App. 883;

Dear Mr. Porteris:

This is in response to your letter of December 12, 1991, requesting permission for the use of a Launch Barge (Barge No. "122") for charter by its owner to Exxon-Mobile Bay for the laying of pipe in Mobile Bay, Alabama.

FACTS:

In your letter you state that the barge is presently located at Port Arthur, Texas, and will be moved to J. Ray McDermott's shipyard at Amelia, Louisiana, for minimal modifications. She will then be moved from Amelia to Mobile Bay. The final intended use of the barge is at anchor in navigable waters laying pipe.

The barge is owned by Sea Span Company of Vancouver, British Columbia. She is registered under the flag of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

ISSUE:

Whether a foreign-flag barge may engage in the laying of pipe within United States navigable waters without violating 46 U.S.C. App. 883.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

Title 46, United States Code Appendix, section 883 (46 U.S.C. App. 883), the coastwise merchandise statute often called the "Jones Act"), provides in part, that no merchandise shall be transported between points in the United States embraced within the coastwise laws, either directly or via a foreign port, or for any part of the transportation, in any vessel other than a vessel built in and documented under the laws of the United States and owned by persons who are citizens of the United States (i.e., a coastwise-qualified vessel).

Points embraced within the coastwise laws include all points within the territorial waters of the United States, including points within a harbor. The coastwise laws generally apply to points in the territorial sea, defined as the belt, three nautical miles wide, seaward of the territorial sea baseline, and to points located in internal waters, landward of the territorial sea baseline, in cases where the baseline and the coastline differ.

Customs has long held that the use of a vessel solely in laying pipe is not considered a use in the coastwise trade of the United States, even when the pipe is laid between two points in the United States embraced within the coastwise laws. Accordingly, the use of a foreign-flag barge to lay pipe in Mobile Bay would not violate 46 U.S.C. App. 883.

Finally, the movement of the barge in ballast from Port Arthur, Texas, to Mobile Bay would not be prohibited by the coastwise laws.

HOLDING:

A foreign-flag barge may engage in the laying of pipe within United States navigable waters without violating 46 U.S.C. App. 883.

Sincerely,

B. James Fritz

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