HQ 112016: Applicability of the coastwise laws to the use of a ferryboat as a moored floating restaurant; SAN DIEGO 231278.

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 112016

                        December 24, 1991



VES-3-04 CO:R:IT:C 112016 MLR

CATEGORY:  Carriers

Michelle A. Warner
New England Marine Documentation Service
1070 Marina Village Parkway
Suite 204
Alameda, CA  94501

RE:  Applicability of the coastwise laws to the use of a
     ferryboat as a moored floating restaurant; SAN DIEGO 231278.

Dear Ms. Warner:

     Reference is made to your letter of December 4, 1991, in
which you seek advice as to the proposed operation of a
restaurant on a moored ferryboat.

FACTS:

     It is anticipated that you will operate a floating
restaurant aboard a 190 foot ferryboat, built in 1931.  The
vessel will be moored to pilings in the Sacramento, California,
area.  The vessel does not have any power, but possibly will at a
later date.  The vessel will not carry passengers for hire, nor
will it be moved except for maintenance.  The New England Marine
Documentation Service is seeking the  redocumentation of the
vessel by the U.S. Coast Guard at the port of San Francisco,
California, and the endorsement of the U.S. Customs Service.

ISSUE:

     Are there any restrictions imposed by the U.S. Customs laws
on the use of a ferryboat as a permanently moored restaurant in
the territorial waters of the United States.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Generally, the laws referred to as the coastwise laws (e.g.,
46 U.S.C. App. 289 and 883, and 46 U.S.C. 12106, and 12110)
prohibit the transportation of merchandise or passengers between
points in the United States embraced within the coastwise laws by
any vessel other than a vessel built in, properly documented
under the laws of, and owned by citizens of the United States
(i.e., a coastwise-qualified vessel).  The passenger coastwise
law, 46 U.S.C. App. 289, 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 penalty of $200 for each passenger so
          transported and landed.

For purposes of the coastwise laws, a vessel "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)).

     In interpreting the coastwise laws as applied to the
transportation of passengers, we have ruled that the carriage of
passengers entirely within territorial waters, even though they
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 the passengers do not go ashore, even
temporarily, at another coastwise point.

     Points in the United States embraced within the coastwise
laws include points in the territorial waters of the United
States (defined as the belt, three nautical miles wide, adjacent
to the coast of the United States and seaward of the territorial
sea baseline) and points located in internal waters (those waters
landward of the territorial sea baseline, in cases where the
baseline and the coastline differ).

     The key, of course, is the provision of transportation
between coastwise points.  No law or regulation administered by
the United States Customs Service would preclude the use of the
subject vessel as a permanently moored restaurant, so long as the
vessel remains in a stationary position.

     It is not stated whether the ferryboat is to be moored
dockside, or out in a harbor, or otherwise.  Please be advised
that although the ferryboat will not be in use in the coastwise
trade, if it is necessary to transport persons or merchandise to
the restaurant via boat from a coastwise point, the transporting
vessel must be coastwise-qualified.  This is because the
restaurant itself would be considered a coastwise point by virtue
of its location within territorial waters.

HOLDING:

     The use of a ferryboat to house a permanently moored
restaurant facility within the U.S. territorial waters is not
prohibited under the coastwise laws administered by the U.S.
Customs Service.

                                   Sincerely,




                                   B. James Fritz
                                   Chief
                                   Carrier Rulings Branch