Title 46ShippingRelease 119-73

§40901 License requirement

Title 46 › Subtitle Subtitle IV— - Regulation of Ocean Shipping › Part Part A— - Ocean Shipping › Chapter CHAPTER 409— - OCEAN TRANSPORTATION INTERMEDIARIES › § 40901

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

A person must be licensed by the Federal Maritime Commission to advertise, offer, or act as an ocean transportation intermediary. Sellers who primarily sell goods may forward their own shipments without license, and disclosed agents of a licensed intermediary are not subject to subsection (a) or section 40902.

Full Legal Text

Title 46, §40901

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(a)A person in the United States may not advertise, hold oneself out, or act as an ocean transportation intermediary unless the person holds an ocean transportation intermediary’s license issued by the Federal Maritime Commission. The Commission shall issue a license to a person that the Commission determines to be qualified by experience and character to act as an ocean transportation intermediary.
(b)A person whose primary business is the sale of merchandise may forward shipments of the merchandise for its own account without an ocean transportation intermediary’s license.
(c)Subsection (a) and section 40902 do not apply to a person that performs ocean transportation intermediary services on behalf of an ocean transportation intermediary for which it is a disclosed agent.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 40901(a)46 App.:1718(a).Pub. L. 98–237, § 19(a), (d), Mar. 20, 1984, 98 Stat. 87, 88; Pub. L. 105–258, title I, § 116, Oct. 14, 1998, 112 Stat. 1912. 40901(b)46 App.:1718(d).

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2018—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–282, § 707(a), inserted “advertise, hold oneself out, or” after “may not”. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 115–282, § 707(b), added subsec. (c).

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

46 U.S.C. § 40901

Title 46Shipping

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73