HQ 113293: Coastwise Trade; Voyage-to-Nowhere; 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 113293
                                
January 12, 1995                 


VES-3-CO:R:IT:C  113293 GEV

CATEGORY:  Carriers

Captain Petros Kontaratos
Casco Bay Line
51-17 Van Loon Street
Elmhurst, New York 11373

RE:  Coastwise Trade; Voyage-to-Nowhere; 46 U.S.C. App.  289

Dear Captain Kontaratos:

     This is in response to your letter dated December 15, 1994, requesting a ruling concerning
a foreign-built, foreign-flagged vessel.  Our ruling on this matter is set forth  below.

FACTS:

     Casco Bay Line  ("Casco") is interested in purchasing the M/V Le Mistral, a foreign-built,
foreign-flagged passenger vessel which was seized by the U.S. Marshall and is currently held by
the U.S. District Court's bankruptcy trustee in Corpus Christi,  Texas.  Casco plans to register the
vessel in the United States and operate her in U.S. waters as a sightseeing, dinner dance, charter
and casino cruise ship along the East Coast from Maine to Texas and particularly in  New York. 
These cruises would be conducted pursuant to voyages-to-nowhere.

ISSUE:

     Whether the transportation of passengers aboard the subject vessel pursuant to a voyage-to-nowhere  constitutes a violation of  46 U.S.C. App.  289.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Title 46, United States Code Appendix,  289 (46 U.S.C. App.  289, the passenger
coastwise law) as interpreted by the Customs Service, prohibits the transportation of passengers
between points in the United States embraced within the coastwise laws, either directly or by way
of a foreign port, in a non-coastwise-qualified vessel (i.e., any vessel that is not built in and
documented under the laws of the United States, and owned by persons who are citizens of the 

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United States).  For purposes of  289, "passenger" is defined as "... any person carried on a
vessel who is not connected with the operation of such vessel, her navigation, ownership, or
business." (19 CFR  4.50(b))  Section 4.80a, Customs Regulations (19 CFR  4.80a) is
interpretive of  289.
     
     In its administration of  46 U.S.C. App.  289, 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 coastwise point, is considered
coastwise trade subject to the coastwise laws.  However, the transportation of passengers to the
high seas (i.e., beyond U.S. territorial waters) and back to the point of embarkation, assuming the
passengers do not go ashore, even temporarily, at another United States point, of ten called a
"voyage-to-nowhere", is not considered coastwise trade (29 O.A.G. 318 (1912)).  It should be
noted that the carriage of fishing parties for hire, even if the vessel proceeds beyond territorial
waters and returns to the point  of  the passengers' embarkation, is considered coastwise trade
(T.D. 55193(2)).

     In interpreting the coastwise laws, Customs has ruled that a point in United States
territorial waters is a point in the United States embraced within the coastwise laws.  The
territorial waters of the United States consist of the territorial sea, defined as the belt, 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.

     In regard to the proposed use of the M/V Le Mistral, the transportation of  passengers on
sightseeing, dinner dance, charter and casino cruises along the East Coast  from Maine to Texas
and particularly in New York would not violate 46 U.S.C. App.  289 provided the requisite
criteria of a voyage-to-nowhere as discussed above are met.

     Parenthetically, we note that gambling activities are not within the purview of the Customs
Service but rather the Department of Justice.  We suggest that you direct any inquiries you may
have in that regard to the following address:

          Organized Crime and Racketeering Section
          Criminal Division
          Department of Justice
          Washington, D.C. 20530
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HOLDING:

     The transportation of passengers aboard the subject vessel pursuant to a voyage-to-nowhere does not constitute a violation of 46 U.S.C. App.  289.

                              Sincerely,

                              Arthur P. Schifflin
                              Chief
                              Carrier Rulings Branch