VES 3-02 CO:R:P:C 109759 BEW
Mr. Lonnie P. Ryan
Post Office Box 60023
San Diego, California 92106
RE: Transportation of passengers between United States ports
or places and the high seas on a foreign-built vessel
Dear Mr. Ryan:
This is in reference to your letter September 12, 1988,
concerning the transportation of passengers for hire between
ports or places in the United States and the high seas on your
foreign-built vessel TRINET.
FACTS:
You state that you intend to use the TRINET to take
"voyages to nowhere". You state that the vessel was built in
the Orient to United States safety regulations. You state that
you will use the vessel for voyages beyond the 3 mile limit and
will not visit other United States ports or points other than
port of original embarkation.
ISSUE:
Whether the transportation of passengers on a foreign-
built vessel for hire between a port or place in the United
States and the high seas, and return to the point of original
embarkation is a violation of the coastwise laws.
LAW ANALYSIS:
Generally, the coastwise laws (e.g., 46 U.S.C. App. 289
and 883, and 46 U.S.C. 12106 and 12110) prohibit the
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transportation of merchandise or passengers between points in
the United States embraced within the coastwise laws 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.
Under the provisions of 46 U.S.C. App. 289, no foreign
vessel shall transport passengers between ports or places in
the United States, either directly or by way of a foreign port.
The penalty for violating this section of the law is $200 for
each passenger so transported and landed.
In interpreting the coastwise laws as applied to the
transportation of passengers, we have ruled that the carriage
of passengers entirely within territorial waters, even though
they disembark at their point of embarkation and the vessel
touches no other point, is considered coastwise trade subject
to the coastwise laws. The transportation of passengers to the
high seas or foreign waters and back to the point of
embarkation, often called a "voyage to nowhere," is not
considered coastwise trade, assuming the passengers do not go
ashore, even temporarily, at another coastwise point. We have
ruled that the carriage of fishing parties for hire, even if
the vessel proceeds beyond territorial waters and returns to
the point of the passengers' original embarkation, is
considered coastwise trade subject to the coastwise laws. The
territorial waters of the United States consist of the
territorial sea, defined as the belt, 3 nautical miles wide,
adjacent to the coast of the United States and seaward of the
territorial sea baseline.
The vessel under consideration, as a foreign-built vessel,
would be precluded from engaging in the coastwise trade. The
vessel could be used to transport passengers from a point in
the United States to the high seas beyond territorial waters
and back to the same point, assuming that the vessel touched at
no other coastwise point during the transportation and was not
engaged in charter party fishing. However, the vessel would be
prohibited from carrying passengers on such a voyage if the
passengers disembarked the vessel at a coastwise port subject
to the coastwise laws of the United States. This is so
because on such a voyage the passengers would be transported
between ports or places in the United States (see 46 U.S.C.
289).
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HOLDING:
The transportation by a non-coastwise-qualified vessel,
such as your foreign-built vessel, of passengers to the high
seas or foreign waters and back to the point of embarkation,
often called a "voyage to nowhere" is not considered coastwise
trade.
Sincerely,
B. James Fritz
Chief
Carrier Rulings Branch
CO:R:P:C:BEWhiting:10/19/88