HQ 113151: 46 U.S.C. App. 883; Merchandise; Coastwise Trade

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 113151
                         
                            June 29, 1994

VES-3-CO:R:IT:C  113151 GOB

CATEGORY:  Carriers

Mr. Joe Iannicelli
Aero-Instant Spray Drying Services
57 Darien Highway
Brunswick, GA 31520

RE:  46 U.S.C. App. 883; Merchandise; Coastwise Trade

Dear Mr. Iannicelli:

     This is in response to your letter dated June 28, 1994 with
respect to the shipment of a spray dryer.

FACTS:

     The record reflects that you propose the following
transportation of a spray dryer.  The dryer would be shipped from
South San Francisco, California to Antwerp, Belgium by a foreign-
flag vessel.  In Antwerp, it would be unloaded and then loaded onto
a different vessel for shipment to Savannah, Georgia.

ISSUE:

     Whether the proposed transportation constitutes a violation
of 46 U.S.C. App. 883.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     46 U.S.C. App. 883, the coastwise merchandise statute often
referred to as the "Jones Act", provides in part:

     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...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...

                              - 2 -

     The proposed transportation is violative of 46 U.S.C. App. 883
because some or all of the transportation will be accomplished by
a vessel which is not coastwise-qualified, i.e., built in,
documented under the laws of, and owned by citizens of the United
States.  The fact that the transportation will include a stop in
Belgium does not remove the transportation from the scope of 46
U.S.C. App. 883.

HOLDING:

     The proposed transportation would constitute a violation of
46 U.S.C. App. 883.


                              
                              Sincerely,



                              Arthur P. Schifflin
                              Chief
                              Carrier Rulings Branch
 
cc:  Paul Ackerman, Chief, Division of Domestic Trade, U.S. Dept. 
     of Transportation, Maritime Administration, 400 Seventh St.