HQ 111991: Coastwise Trade; School of Seamanship; 46 U.S.C. App. 289

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 111991

                        February 6, 1992

VES-3-CO:R:IT:C 111991 GEV

CATEGORY:  Carriers

Thomas Danti
Dean of Instruction
Chapman School of Seamanship
4343 S.E. St. Lucie Boulevard
Stuart, Florida 34997

RE:  Coastwise Trade; School of Seamanship; 46 U.S.C. App. 289

Dear Mr. Danti:

     This is in response to your letter dated November 13, 1991,
concerning the documentation of your fleet of vessels in the
coastwise trade.  Our ruling is set forth below.

FACTS:

     Chapman School of Seamanship, located in Stuart, Florida, is
a non-profit marine school offering courses in navigation and
seamanship for both recreational boaters and those persons
seeking professional mariner training.  The courses are conducted
using the school's fleet of vessels in the general area where the
school is located (i.e., the southeast coast of Florida).  The
students and the vessels on which the students receive
instruction return to the same point of departure at the end of
the instruction period.

ISSUE:

     Whether the use of a vessel for purposes of offering
instruction in navigation and seamanship is considered a use in
the coastwise trade within the purview of 46 U.S.C. App. 289.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Title 46, United States Code Appendix, section 289 (the
passenger coastwise law), as interpreted by the Customs Service,
prohibits the transportation of passengers between points
embraced within the coastwise laws, either directly or by way of
a foreign port, in any vessel other than a vessel built in,
documented under the laws of, and owned by citizens of the United
States.  Pursuant to section 4.50(b), Customs Regulations (19 CFR
                              - 2 -

4.50(b)), the word "passenger," for purposes of this provision,
is defined as "...any person carried on a vessel who is not
connected with the operation of such vessel, her navigation,
ownership, or business."

     In our interpretation of section 289, we have long-held that
a person transported on a vessel as a student in courses such as
oceanography or sailing and seamanship, when the presence of that
person is required on board the vessel as a part of his or her
course or training, is not a passenger, for purposes of the
coastwise laws.  Accordingly, the use of vessels by the Chapman
School of Seamanship as described above is not a use in the
coastwise trade within the purview of 46 U.S.C. App. 289.

HOLDING:

     The use of a vessel for purposes of offering instruction in
navigation and seamanship is not considered a use in the
coastwise trade within the purview of 46 U.S.C. App. 289.

                              Sincerely,




                              B. James Fritz
                              Chief
                              Carrier Rulings Branch