HQ 112953: Coastwise trade; transportation of passengers; 46 U.S.C. App. 289; ISLAND GIRL

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 112953

                           November 24, 1993

VES-3-02 CO:R:IT:C   112953 GOB

CATEGORY:  Carriers

Mr. Robert Koch
839 Highway 61 East
Two Harbors, Minnesota 55616

RE:  Coastwise trade; transportation of passengers; 46 U.S.C. App.
     289; ISLAND GIRL

Dear Mr. Koch:

     This is in response to your letter dated November 19, 1993,
which we received by facsimile on November 22, 1993.  

FACTS:

     You request a ruling with respect to the proposed chartering
of your vessel, ISLAND GIRL (the "vessel"), on the following
routes:

          1. The charter would originate in Miami, sail beyond the
territorial sea base line to a location in the Florida Keys, and
return to Miami.

          2. The charter would originate in Miami, sail to the
Bahamas, and return to Miami.

          3. The charter would originate in the Bahamas, stop at
a location in the Bahamas, and then sail to Miami.

     The charters would not be bareboat charters, but would include
vessel and crew.

ISSUE:

     Whether the above-described itineraries using a foreign-built
vessel are permissible under the coastwise passenger statute, 46
U.S.C. App. 289.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Generally, the coastwise laws prohibit the transportation of
passengers or merchandise between points in the United States
embraced within the coastwise laws in any vessel other than a 

                              - 2 -

vessel built in, documented under the laws of, and owned by
citizens of the United States.

     The coastwise law applicable to the carriage of passengers is
found in 46 U.S.C. App. 289 and 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.

     The coastwise laws generally apply to points in the
territorial sea, which is 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.      

     19 CFR 4.50 (b) defines "passenger" as follows:

     ...any person carried on a vessel who is not connected with
     the operation of such vessel, her navigation, ownership, or
     business.

     As we understand your description of the first scenario:
passengers would board the vessel in Miami; the vessel would sail
to a point in the Florida Keys where the passengers would
temporarily leave the vessel; the passengers would get back on the
vessel at that point in the Florida Keys; and the vessel would
return to Miami, where the passengers would leave the vessel.  This
scenario is prohibited by 46 U.S.C. App. 289 because it involves
the coastwise transportation of passengers.  

     With respect to the first scenario, we also note the
following.  In interpreting the coastwise laws as applied to the
transportation of passengers, we have ruled that the carriage of
passengers entirely within the 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.  The transportation of passengers to the high
seas or foreign waters and back to the point of embarkation, often
called a "voyage to nowhere," is not considered coastwise trade,
assuming that the passengers do not go ashore, even temporarily,
at another coastwise point.  

     The itineraries described in the second and third scenarios
are not violative of 46 U.S.C. App. 289 because a point in the
Bahamas is not a coastwise point.  Thus, those itineraries do not
involve the transportation of passengers between ports or places
in the United States.




                              - 3 -

HOLDING:

     As detailed above, the proposed itinerary in the first
scenario involves the coastwise transportation of passengers which
is violative of 46 U.S.C. App. 289.  The proposed itineraries in
the second and third scenarios does not involve the coastwise
transportation of passengers and is not violative of 46 U.S.C. App.
289.



                                                                 
                              Sincerely,



                              Arthur P. Schifflin
                              Chief
                              Carrier Rulings Branch