HQ 110956: Use of a Dutch-registered stationary platform used for construction operations.

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 110956

                          June 7, 1990


VES-3-15  CO:R:P:C  110956 JBW

CATEGORY:  Carriers

Mr. Scott C. Hege
Marketing Manager
Interbeton, Inc.
The Atrium Building, Suite 203
263 Mclaw's Circle
Williamsburg, VA 23185

RE:  Use of a Dutch-registered stationary platform used for
     construction operations.

Dear Mr. Hege:

          This letter is in response to your request, dated March
30, 1990, for a ruling on the application of the coastwise laws
to the use of a non-coastwise-qualified stationary platform for
construction operations.

FACTS:

          Interbeton, Inc., is a United States subsidiary of a
Dutch construction company, Hollandsche Beton Group of the
Netherlands (HBG).  Interbeton wishes to import marine equipment
for use on a construction project located approximately eight to
nine miles off the coast of Massachusetts.  Specifically,
Interbeton will import its Jack-Up Barge IB 908 ("IB 908").  The
IB 908 is equipped with pile driving, drilling, and lifting
equipment and will be used as a stationary platform for drilling
for and installation of effluent outfall risers.  The IB 908 was
manufactured in the Netherlands, is registered under the Dutch
flag, and is owned by Holland Equipment Company of the
Netherlands (HEC), which in turn is owned by HBG.  You state that
the IB 908 will not be used for transportation of merchandise.
You further state that only coastwise-qualified tug boats will be
used to set the IB 908 in place and that coastwise-qualified
vessels will be used to transport merchandise to the platform.

ISSUE:

          Whether the coastwise laws prohibit the use of a non-
coastwise-qualified stationary platform for construction
operations in territorial waters or in waters beyond the three
mile territorial limits.


LAW AND ANALYSIS:

          The coastwise laws of the United States prohibit the
transportation of merchandise between points in the United States
embraced within the coastwise laws in any vessel other than a
vessel built and documented under the laws of the United States
and owned by persons who are citizens of the United States. (46
U.S.C. App. 883 (1982), referred to as "the Jones Act").
Generally, the coastwise laws include points within the
territorial waters of the United States, which consist of the
territorial sea, defined as the belt, three nautical miles wide,
adjacent to coast of the United States and seaward of the
territorial sea baseline.

          The Customs Service has consistently held that a non-
coastwise-qualified vessel used as a moored facility within
territorial waters does not engage in the coastwise trade and
consequently does not violate the coastwise laws, or any other
law administered by the Customs Service, provided that the vessel
remains stationary.  E.g., C.S.D. 89-107, 23 Cust. B. & Dec., No.
44, 8, 9 (1989).  Thus, the use within territorial waters of a
foreign owned and registered stationary jackup barge for
construction operations, as described in your letter, does not
violate the coastwise laws.

          Pursuant to Section 4(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf
Lands Act of 1953 (OCSLA), as amended, 43 U.S.C. 1333(a) (1982),
the Customs Service has ruled that the coastwise laws are
extended to mobile oil drilling rigs during the period they are
secured to or submerged onto the seabed of the Untied States
outer continental shelf. T.D. 54281(1), 92 Treas. Dec. 8 (1957);
see also, C.S.D. 89-115, 23 Cust. B. & Dec., No. 45, 7, 13-14
(1989).  The Customs Service has applied this principle to
drilling platforms, artificial islands, and similar structures,
as well as devices attached to the seabed of the outer
continental shelf for the purpose of resource exploration
operations, including warehouse vessels anchored over the outer
continental shelf when used to supply drilling rigs on the outer
continental shelf.  Id.  However, the OCSLA does not extend
jurisdiction to activities wholly unrelated to the exploration,
development, or production of natural resources on the seabed of
the outer continental shelf.  106 Mile Transport Associates v.
Koch, 656 F. Supp. 1474, 1482 (S.D.N.Y. 1987).  Therefore, if
your proposed construction activities will take place beyond
territorial waters, then they would not fall within the
jurisdictional ambit of the OCSLA.  The use of a stationary
platform for construction activities on the outer continental
shelf consequently would not be subject to the coastwise laws.

          We note that although the vessel under consideration
will not be engaging in the coastwise trade while in operation as
a stationary construction facility either within or beyond the
territorial waters, the vessel itself will become a coastwise
point if within territorial waters.  C.S.D. 89-107.  Therefore,
any vessel moving merchandise or passengers between the
stationary platform and another coastwise point must be
documented for the coastwise trade.  46 U.S.C. App. 289 & 883
(1982).  Furthermore, United States law requires that a
coastwise-qualified vessel tow the vessel under consideration
between coastwise points.  46 U.S.C.A. App. 316(a) (West Supp.
1990).

HOLDING:

          The coastwise laws do not prohibit the use of a non-
coastwise-qualified stationary platform used for construction
operations within or beyond the territorial waters of the United
States.  If within territorial waters, the vessel itself becomes
a coastwise point.  Only coastwise-qualified vessels may
transport merchandise and passengers between the platform and
another coastwise point.  Likewise, coastwise-qualified vessels
must be used to tow the vessel between coastwise points.

          The coastwise laws do not apply to the use of a non-
coastwise-qualified stationary platform used for construction
activities beyond the territorial waters of the United States.


                              Sincerely,



                              B. James Fritz
                              Chief
                              Carrier Rulings Branch