PRIA Logo™
Title 19, Customs DutiesRelease 119-102

§1446 Supplies and Stores Retained on Board

Title 19 › CHAPTER 4 — TARIFF ACT OF 1930 › SUBTITLE III — ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS › Part II — Report, Entry, and Unlading of Vessels and Vehicles › § 1446

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Ships arriving in the United States from foreign ports may keep on board, without paying duty, their coal and other fuel, ship supplies and stores, and ordinary ship equipment. If those items are taken off the ship and delivered, they are treated as imported goods. If a ship on a regular foreign–U.S. line is delayed in port, its bunker coal, bunker oil, stores, or equipment can be moved, with a customs permit and under customs supervision, to another ship of the same line and owner that is in foreign trade, without paying 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 That section was superseded by section 446 of act June 17, 1930, comprising this section, and repealed by section 651(a)(1) of the 1930 act.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

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102