VES-3-02-CO:R:IT:C 112022 RAH
Mr. Wulf Marquard
President
Tall-Ship Friends
Meiendorfer Str. 74a
Hamburg 73
RE: Coastwise Trade; 46 U.S.C. App. 289; Passenger; Trainee
Dear Mr. Marquard:
This is in response to your letters of November 27 and
December 27, 1991, requesting information concerning the vessel
SEDOV.
FACTS:
In your letter you state that the soviet sail-training
vessel SEDOV (the world's largest squarerigger under sail)
intends to participate in the Columbus-Race 1992. The ship will
carry 65 crew members and 160 trainees from different West
European countries and from Russia. The trainees have a contract
with your organization that requires them to work on board the
vessel to learn traditional seamanship and basic navigation.
The duration of the practice on board the vessel is one to
four weeks. One group of trainees will embark in San Juan,
Puerto Rico, and debark in New York. The next group will embark
in New York and disembark in Boston.
ISSUE:
Whether trainees on a sail-training vessel constitute
passengers for purposes of 46 U.S.C. App. 289.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
The coastwise laws generally prohibit the transportation of
passengers or merchandise between points in the United States
embraced within the coastwise laws in any vessel other than a
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United States built, owned, and documented vessel. 46 U.S.C.
App. 289 (Supp. III 1985) & 46 U.S.C.A. 883 (West Supp. 1990).
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.
The Customs Regulations define "passenger" for purposes of
section 289 as "any person carried on a vessel who is not
connected with the operation of such vessel, her navigation,
ownership, or business." 19 C.F.R. 4.50(b)(1990). Members of
the permanent crew of the SEDOV are not passengers under this
definition. Moreover, the Customs Service has held that a person
being trained or receiving instruction in the handling or
navigation of a vessel, and whose presence on board the vessel is
required in order to receive such training or instruction, is not
a "passenger" within the coastwise laws. See Headquarters Ruling
Letter 109850, dated December 27, 1988, and Headquarters Ruling
Letter 109287, dated February 24, 1988. Accordingly, if the
temporary crew is aboard the ship only for such training, then
the transportation of these crew members would not be prohibited
by the coastwise laws.
You also ask whether SEDOV is allowed to take on board
American citizens as trainees. In that regard, there are no laws
administered by Customs which prohibit a foreign-flag vessel from
taking on board American citizens as trainees. However, please
be aware that this letter addresses only those federal
requirements that are administered by the U.S. Customs Service.
While we are unaware of any other federal or state agency
requirements that might pertain to the undertaking you describe,
it is possible that such requirements exist.
HOLDING:
Trainees on a sail-training vessel do not constitute
passengers for purposes of 46 U.S.C. App. 289.
Sincerely,
B. James Fritz
Chief
Carrier Rulings Branch