VES-13-17-CO:R:P:C 110265 LLB
Mr. Chuck Morris
Special Projects
Underwater Construction, Inc.
8740 Hartzell Road
Anchorage, Alaska 99507
RE: Use of Canadian-registered barge as a stationary
platform for cleaning oil-contaminated oil containment
and cleaning equipment
Dear Mr. Morris:
This is in response to your letter of June 14, 1989, in
which you request that we rule upon the use of a non-coastwise
qualified barge for utilization as a stationary work platform.
FACTS:
Your company, a U.S. company of which all the stock is U.S.-
owned, owns a barge of Canadian registry which is currently
moored in Seattle, Washington. It is proposed to tow the barge,
known as the "336", from Seattle to a point in the recently
fouled Prince William Sound, Alaska, where it would be moored for
use as a stationary work platform on which oil-contaminated
cleaning equipment would be cleaned.
It is stated that there would be no quarters aboard for
housing workers since the only proposed use for the barge is as a
work station. The official number of the barge is 345035.
ISSUE:
Whether the coastwise laws are violated when a non
2
coastwise-qualified barge is used as a stationary work platform
in coastwise waters.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Title 46, United States Code App., section 883 (46 U.S.C.
App. 883), in pertinent part, prohibits the transportation of
merchandise 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.
The Customs-Service consistently has held that the use of a
non-coastwise-qualified vessel as a moored facility does not
violate the coastwise laws, or any other law administered by the
Customs Service, provided that the vessel remains stationary.
Customs also has held that if the vessel is being loaded or
unloaded and must be moved to another location because of stress
of weather or other reason involving the vessel's safety,
subsequently is returned to the same point to continue its
loading or unloading, and neither loads nor unloads merchandise
at any other point in the United States, the coastwise laws are
not violated.
Although the vessel will not be engaging in coastwise trade
while in operation as a stationary work facility, the point
should be made that by virtue of its being anchored within
territorial waters, the vessel itself will become a coastwise
point. The practical effect of this fact is that any vessel
moving merchandise or passengers between the moored barge and
another coastwise point (in either direction), must itself be
documented for the coastwise trade. Of course, the barge itself
may not have any passengers or merchandise aboard during its
initial tow from Seattle, or during its tow at the completion of
its mission if that tow is to another coastwise point.
You should also know that under the provisions of the coastwise
towing statute codified at section 316 of title 46, United States
Code App. (46 U.S.C. App. 316), the vessel towing your barge
between coastwise points must be properly documented for that
service.
HOLDING:
In light of the facts, law and analysis discussed above, a
3
foreign-registered barge may be used as a moored stationary work
platform within the territorial waters of the U.S. without
adverse consequence under the coastwise laws of the United
States, so long as it transports neither passengers nor
merchandise while under tow between coastwise points.
Sincerely,
B. James Fritz
Chief
Carrier Rulings Branch