PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

Requires the United States to keep a merchant fleet that can handle the nation's waterborne domestic trade and a big share of its exports and imports, and keep that shipping moving at all times. The fleet must be usable as naval and military support in war or emergency, be owned and run by U.S. citizens, use well‑equipped, safe U.S.-built ships crewed by trained citizen sailors, and have strong shipbuilding and repair facilities. The United States will encourage and help develop and maintain this fleet.

Title 46, §50101

Shipping, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Objectives.—

It is necessary for the national defense and the development of the domestic and foreign commerce of the United States that the United States have a merchant marine—

(1)sufficient to carry the waterborne domestic commerce and a substantial part of the waterborne export and import foreign commerce of the United States and to provide shipping service essential for maintaining the flow of the waterborne domestic and foreign commerce at all times;

(2)capable of serving as a naval and military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency;

(3)owned and operated as vessels of the United States by citizens of the United States;

(4)composed of the best-equipped, safest, and most suitable types of vessels constructed in the United States and manned with a trained and efficient citizen personnel; and

(5)supplemented by efficient facilities for building and repairing vessels.

(b)Policy.—

It is the policy of the United States to encourage and aid the development and maintenance of a merchant marine satisfying the objectives described in subsection (a).

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 5010146 App.:861.June 5, 1920, ch. 250, § 1, 41 Stat. 988; Exec. Order No. 6166, June 10, 1933, § 12; June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title II, § 204, title IX, § 904, 49 Stat. 1987, 2016; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(33), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 156. 46 App.:891.May 22, 1928, ch. 675, § 1, 45 Stat. 689. 46 App.:1101.June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title I, § 101, 49 Stat. 1985; Pub. L. 91–469, § 1, Oct. 21, 1970, 84 Stat. 1018. This section consolidates the source provisions to eliminate repetition.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2009—Subsec. (a)(4). Pub. L. 111–84 inserted “constructed in the United States” after “vessels”.

§50101 Objectives and Policy