HQ 111867: The applicability of the coastwise laws to the proposed use of a heavy lift foreign vessel in the movement of a production platform which had been salvaged from international waters and towed to the territorial waters of Louisiana.

Native CBP ruling rendition. Applicability is fact-specific; modification/revocation relationships and original publisher date are retained. Publisher sentinel year0001 means unknown date, not a historical legal adoption.

                            HQ 111867

                       September 24, 1991

VES-10-02-CO:R:IT:C 111867 BEW

CATEGORY:  Carriers

Mr. James E. Cloutier
President
Leasco Services
P.O. Box 2402
Oregon City, Louisiana 70380

RE:  The applicability of the coastwise laws to the proposed use
     of a heavy lift foreign vessel in the movement of a
     production platform which had been salvaged from
     international waters and towed to the territorial waters of
     Louisiana.

Dear Mr. Cloutier:

     This is in reference to your letter dated September 9, 1991,
requesting a ruling concerning the movement of a production
platform on a foreign vessel the TAX LIFT 6 (Rotterdam).

FACTS:

     You state that on September 1, 1991, the TAX LIFT 6 was used
in the international waters to salvage a fixed production
platform WEST CAMERON 480 A, that the deck section of the
platform was lifted and deposited on a U.S.-flag barge, and towed
to your facility.  You state that you must off-load the deck
section from the U.S. barge and place it at the head of your
slip.  The U.S. barge is too large to go into the slip,
therefore, you ask whether you can use the subject TAX LIFT 6 to
lift the deck section from the U.S. barge and move it
approximately 180 feet via air and place it at the head of your
slip.

     You state that you are "only traveling 180' in a private
slip and not from any other port or destination."  You state
that the subject crane barge cannot pivot because the TAX LIFT 6
is not a rotating crane barge.

ISSUE:

     1.   Whether the transportation of the subject deck section
     by a foreign crane barge from the U.S.-qualified barge site
     located at the mouth of the slip to the head of the slip, a
     distance of approximately 180 feet, is a violation of 46
     U.S.C. App. 883.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     The coastwise law pertaining to the transportation of
merchandise, section 27 of the Act of June 5, 1920, as amended
(41 Stat. 999; 46 U.S.C. App. 883, often called the Jones Act),
provides that:

          No merchandise shall be transported by water,
          or by land and water, on penalty of
          forfeiture of the merchandise (or a monetary
          amount up to the value thereof as determined
          by the Secretary of the Treasury, or the
          actual cost of the transportation, whichever
          is greater, to be recovered from any
          consignor, seller, owner, importer,
          consignee, agent, or other person or persons
          so transporting or causing said merchandise
          to be transported), 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 other vessel 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 ....

     "Merchandise" is defined in section 1401(c) of title 19,
United States Code, to include goods, wares, and chattels of
every description, and includes fish, fish products, and fish
packaging materials that are assembled into packages containing
fish.  Section 883 specifically provides that, for purposes of
its provisions, "merchandise" includes valueless material (Pub.L.
100-329; 102 Stat. 588).  The transportation of valueless
material, whether or not it has commercial value, from a point or
place in the United States or point or place on the high seas
within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as defined in the
Presidential Proclamation of March 10, 1983, to another point or
place in the United States or a point or place on the high seas
within that EEZ would also be prohibited under the provisions of
section 883.

     In interpreting the coastwise laws, Customs has ruled that a
point in United States territorial waters is considered a point
embraced within the coastwise laws.  The coastwise laws generally
apply to points in the territorial sea, defined as the belt,
three (3) 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 transportation of the platform deck section on a
foreign-flag crane barge from the U.S. barge site, located in the
territorial waters of the United States, to another point within
the territorial waters of the U.S. (the head of your slip) would
be prohibited under the provisions of 46 U.S.C. App. 883.
Accordingly, the proposed use of the Rotterdam crane-barge in
question would be prohibited.

     The "Jones Act", 46 U.S.C. App. 883, was enacted in 1920,
for the protection of American shipping and shipbuilding.  The
Act of December 27, 1950 (64 Stat. 1120) provides that the
navigation laws (such as sections 883 and 289) may only be waived
when deemed necessary in the interest of national defense.  Under
the 1950 Act, the Customs Service, acting for the Department of
the Treasury, is required to waive the navigation laws which it
enforces, including the coastwise laws, if requested to do so by
the Department of Defense in the interest of national defense.
In addition, the Treasury Department is authorized to waive such
laws on its initiative or the recommendation of another
Government agency to the extent that Treasury determines such
action is necessary in the interest of national defense.  A
waiver of the provisions of the coastwise laws cannot be issued
solely for economic reasons.

     In the absence of grounds to invoke a waiver in the interest
of national defense, the only other method by which a waiver may
be granted to transport merchandise or passengers on a
non-coastwise qualified vessel between United States ports would
be through Congressional action.

     We regret that we cannot grant a waiver of the coastwise
laws since there is no interest of national defense.  The
transportation of the merchandise from one coastwise point, to
another coastwise point would be in violation of section 883.

HOLDING:

     1.  The transportation of the subject deck section by a
     foreign crane barge from the U.S.-qualified barge site
     located at the mouth of the slip to the head of the slip, a
     distance of approximately 180 feet, is a violation of 46
     U.S.C. App. 883.

                                     Sincerely,



                                     B. James Fritz
                                     Chief
                                     Carrier Rulings Branch