Title 19 — Customs DutiesRelease 119-73not60
§1446 Supplies and Stores Retained on Board
Title 19 › Chapter 4— TARIFF ACT OF 1930 › Subtitle SUBTITLE III— ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS › Part II— Report, Entry, and Unlading of Vessels and Vehicles › § 1446
Summary
Ships coming from foreign ports may keep fuel (including bunker coal and oil), ship and sea stores, and proper equipment on board without paying customs duty. If those items are unloaded, they are treated as imported goods. If a regular line is delayed in port, those items may be moved, with a permit and customs supervision, to another vessel of the same line and owner without duty.
Full Legal Text
Title 19, §1446
Customs Duties — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Vessels arriving in the United States from foreign ports may retain on board, without the payment of duty, all coal and other fuel supplies, ships’ stores, sea stores, and the legitimate equipment of such vessels. Any such supplies, ships’ stores, sea stores, or equipment landed and delivered from such vessel shall be considered and treated as imported merchandise: Provided, That bunker coal, bunker oil, ships’ stores, sea stores, or the legitimate equipment of vessels belonging to regular lines plying between foreign ports and the United States, which are delayed in port for any cause, may be transferred under a permit by the appropriate customs officer and under customs supervision from the vessel so delayed to another vessel of the same line and owner, and engaged in the foreign trade, without the payment of duty thereon.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Prior Provisions
Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in act Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 356, title IV, § 446, 42 Stat. 953. That section was superseded by section 446 of act June 17, 1930, comprising this section, and repealed by section 651(a)(1) of the 1930 act. Provisions similar to those in the last sentence of this section concerning sea stores and equipment, were contained in R.S. § 2797, as amended by act Mar. 3, 1897, ch. 389, § 17, 29 Stat. 691. A provision that steam vessels might retain coal on board without being required to land it or pay duty was contained in R.S. § 2798. Provision for collection of duty on excessive quantities of sea stores was made by R.S. § 2796. All of these sections were repealed by act Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 356, title IV, § 642, 42 Stat. 989.
Amendments
1970—Pub. L. 91–271 substituted reference to appropriate customs officer for reference to collector.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1970 AmendmentFor
Effective Date
of amendment by Pub. L. 91–271, see section 203 of Pub. L. 91–271, set out as a note under section 1500 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
19 U.S.C. § 1446
Title 19 — Customs Duties
Last Updated
Apr 5, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60