VES-10-13-CO:R:IT:C 111870 RAH
Mr. David Parrot, President
Titan Maritime Industries, Inc.
P.O. Box 350463
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
RE: Towing; 46 U.S.C. App. 316(a)
Dear Mr. Parrot:
This is in response to your letter of September 4, 1991, in
which you seek clarification of the towing statute.
FACTS:
In your letter you state that you have a contract to remove
fuel oil from a sunken vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. You ask
whether a foreign tug may tow a U.S. barge from U.S. territorial
waters to a specific job site in international waters, and then
tow the same barge back to a U.S. port at the conclusion of the
job. Pursuant to a telephone conversation on September 19, 1991,
between Ms. Hollaway of my staff and Mr. Dick Fairbanks of your
office, we confirmed that the foreign tug will pick up the U.S.
barge at the port of Fouchon, Louisiana, and tow her to the job
site in international waters. At that point, the tug will
disengage from the barge. The barge will jack-up to perform the
salvage operation in question. Once the job is completed (it
will take approximately 30 days), the same or a different tug
will return to the barge to tow her back to the United States.
ISSUE:
Whether pursuant to 46 U.S.C. App. 316(a), a foreign tug
may tow a U.S. barge from a U.S port to the high seas, disengage
from the barge, and return approximately 30 days later to tow the
barge back to a U.S. port.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
Section 4370 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (R.S. 4370;
46 U.S.C. App. 316(a), the coastwise towing statute), prohibits
the towing of any vessel, other than a vessel in distress, by a
vessel not documented under the United States flag to engage in
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the coastwise or Great Lakes trade between ports or places in
the United States embraced within the coastwise laws, either
directly or by way of a foreign port or place, or for any part of
such towing, or such towing between points in a harbor of the
United States. The penalties for violation of this prohibition
are a fine of from $250 to $1,000 against the owner and master of
the towing vessel and a further penalty against the towing vessel
of $50 per ton of the towed vessel.
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 coastline differ.
It is important to keep in mind that the restrictions
imposed by section 316(a) extend only to tows between coastwise
points. A non-coastwise-qualified towing vessel is free to tow
any vessel from a point beyond the three mile territorial sea
boundary to a coastwise point, or from a coastwise point to a
non-coastwise point. We interpret section 316(a) strictly in
order to reserve any tows between coastwise points for qualified
vessels of the United States, except for those involving bona
fide distress situations. Customs Ruling Letter 109631 LLB (7-
19-88). It is Custom's position that the manifest object of the
statute is to prohibit foreign tugs from towing American vessels
for any part of an overall towing operation in domestic commerce.
Customs Letter 105149 DHR (5-13-81).
In the instant case, the tow is not an overall tow between
coastwise points. The fact that the tug will disengage from the
barge for approximately 30 days before returning to tow her back
to the United States, breaks the continuity of the tow between
the two coastwise points. In effect, there are two separate
towing operations: (1) from a U.S. port to the high seas; and
(2) from the high seas to a U.S. port.
HOLDING:
A foreign tug may tow a U.S. barge from a point within a U.S
port to the high seas, disengage from the barge, and return
approximately 30 days later to tow the barge back to a U.S. port,
without violating 46 U.S.C. App. 316(a).
Sincerely,
B. James Fritz
Chief
Carrier Rulings Branch