§55332 Designating American Great Lakes vessels

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation must label a ship as an American Great Lakes vessel when the owner applies under the Secretary’s rules, the ship is registered in the United States, it is between 1 and 6 years old (or between 1 and 11 years old if the Secretary finds no suitable ships available for the needed service), it has not had that label before, and the owner agrees to the buy-back terms. The Secretary will create the rules for how to apply. The owner must promise that if the Secretary says the ship is needed for U.S. defense, the U.S. government alone can buy the ship for 120 days after the label is revoked. The price must be the higher of the ship’s world market value or the owner’s cost minus reasonable depreciation. If the government does not buy, the owner may register the ship under another country or sell it to a non-U.S. person.