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§50303 Operating property and extending term of notes

Title 46 › Subtitle Subtitle V— - Merchant Marine › Part Part A— - General › Chapter CHAPTER 503— - ADMINISTRATIVE › § 50303

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation can run or lease docks, piers, vessels, and other real property the Secretary controls. The Secretary must get the Secretary of Defense’s prior consent to use any vessel in the Ready Reserve Force or National Defense Reserve Fleet kept in retention status for the Department of Defense. The Secretary can also extend or renew notes, mortgages, and similar contracts on that property. Those transactions must use terms the Secretary finds necessary to carry out this subtitle’s purposes and follow sound business practice. Money received from them can be spent by the Secretary as this subtitle allows.

Full Legal Text

Title 46, §50303

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(a)The Secretary of Transportation may—
(1)operate or lease docks, wharves, piers, vessels, or real property under the Secretary’s control, except that the prior consent of the Secretary of Defense for such use shall be required with respect to any vessel in the Ready Reserve Force or in the National Defense Reserve Fleet which is maintained in a retention status for the Department of Defense; and
(2)make extensions and accept renewals of—
(A)promissory notes and other evidences of indebtedness on property; and
(B)mortgages and other contracts securing the property.
(b)A transaction under subsection (a) shall be on terms the Secretary considers necessary to carry out the purposes of this subtitle, but consistent with sound business practice.
(c)Amounts received by the Secretary from a transaction under this section are available for expenditure by the Secretary as provided in this subtitle.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 5030346 App.:1112.June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title II, § 202, 49 Stat. 1986; Aug. 26, 1937, ch. 822, § 1, 50 Stat. 839; June 23, 1938, ch. 600, § 1, 52 Stat. 953; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(60), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 158. In subsection (a), the words “Notwithstanding any other provision of law” are omitted as unnecessary. In paragraph (1), the word “lands” is omitted as included in “real property”. In paragraph (2)(A), the word “promissory” is added for clarity. The words “hereby transferred”, referring to the transfer under the first sentence of section 202 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 (repealed by section 12(60)(A) of Public Law 97–31), are omitted as obsolete. Subsection (b) is substituted for “in accordance with good business methods and on such terms and conditions as he determines to effectuate the policy of this chapter” and “upon such terms and conditions as he may prescribe in accordance with sound business practice” for consistency and to eliminate unnecessary words.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2008—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 110–181 inserted “vessels,” after “piers,” and substituted “control, except that the prior consent of the Secretary of Defense for such use shall be required with respect to any vessel in the Ready Reserve Force or in the National Defense Reserve Fleet which is maintained in a retention status for the Department of Defense;” for “control;”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

46 U.S.C. § 50303

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Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73