VES-3-CO:R:IT:C 112721 LLB
Mr. Robert G. Shaw
Healy and Baillie
29 Broadway
New York, New York 10006-3293
RE: Coastwise trade; Passengers; Foreign-flag cruise vessel;
Return to port of embarkation; 46 U.S.C. App. 289
Dear Mr. Shaw:
Reference is made to your letter of May 5, 1993, in which
you ask that we confirm that passengers may be embarked on a
foreign-flag vessel at a coastwise point, transported to nearby
foreign ports, and returned to the original coastwise port of
embarkation to be disembarked without violating the coastwise
passenger transportation statute.
FACTS:
It is proposed that passengers board a Liberian-flag cruise
vessel at the port of Ketchikan, Alaska. The vessel would then
proceed to ports of call in Canada and return to Ketchikan to
disembark all passengers and terminate the voyage.
ISSUE:
Whether a non-coastwise-qualified vessel may legally embark
passengers at a coastwise point, proceed to nearby foreign ports,
and return to the original coastwise boarding port to permanently
discharge passengers.
LAW AND ANALYSIS:
The Act of June 19, 1886, as amended (24 Stat. 81; 46 U.S.C.
App. 289, sometimes called the coastwise passenger law),
provides that:
No foreign vessel shall transport passengers
between ports or places in the United States
either directly or by way of a foreign port,
under a penalty of $200 for each passenger so
transported and landed.
For your general information, we have consistently
interpreted this prohibition to apply to all vessels except
United States-built, owned, and properly documented vessels (see
46 U.S.C. 12106, 12110, 46 U.S.C. App. 883, and 19 C.F.R.
4.80).
In interpreting the coastwise laws as applied to the
transportation of passengers, the Customs Service has ruled
that the carriage of passengers entirely within territorial
waters, even though the passengers disembark at their point
of embarkation and the vessel touches no other point, is
considered coastwise trade subject to the coastwise laws.
However, the transportation of passengers to the high seas
or foreign waters and back to the point of embarkation,
assuming the passengers do not go ashore, even temporarily,
at another United States point, often called a "voyage to
nowhere," is not considered coastwise trade. The territorial
waters of the United States consist of the territorial sea,
defined as the belt, three nautical miles wide, adjacent to
the coast of the United States and seaward of the territorial
sea baseline.
The first of these positions, regarding transportation
of passengers entirely within territorial waters on a voyage
in which they embark and disembark at the same coastwise point
is based on a 1900 decision (Treasury Decision 22275).
The second of these positions, regarding transportation
of passengers from a point in the United States to the high
seas or foreign waters and back to the same point, is based
on a 1912 opinion of the Attorney General of the United States
(29 Opinions of the Attorney General 318).
HOLDING:
A non-coastwise-qualified vessel may transport passengers
from a coastwise point to foreign ports or territorial waters and
back again to the original coastwise point without violating the
proscriptions imposed by 46 U.S.C. App. 289. This ruling is
premised upon the understanding that the vessel will not stop,
even temporarily, at any other coastwise point, including any
point within the three-mile territorial waters of the United
States.
Sincerely,
Acting Chief
Carrier Rulings Branch