§50101 — Title 46 Shipping | U.S. Code

Summary

The United States must keep a merchant fleet that can carry its water trade and a large share of the country’s exports and imports and keep shipping moving. The fleet must be able to help the Navy in war or a national emergency. It must be owned and run by U.S. citizens, use well-built U.S. ships with trained U.S. crews, and have good shipbuilding and repair facilities. The U.S. government will encourage and help develop and maintain that fleet.

Title 46, §50101

Shipping — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)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)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