§53405 Obligations and Rights Under Operating Agreements

Summary

Operating agreements must say that while a covered vessel is operating under the agreement it must run only in allowed trades (U.S. foreign commerce, mixed trade allowed under a registry endorsement in section 12111, foreign-to-foreign trade, or under a U.S. charter), must not sail in the coastwise trade except as allowed above, and must be documented under chapter 121. The agreement must also require, subject to available appropriations, that the Secretary pay the program participant as described in section 53406. The agreement is a contract the U.S. government promises to pay, but only up to the money actually appropriated. Each covered vessel and the program participant remain bound by documentation and by the rules in section 53407 until the agreement’s scheduled end date, even if ended earlier under section 53404(c)(2). Emergency Preparedness Agreement terms stay in effect until that end date unless the participant, the Secretary of Transportation, and the Secretary of Defense agree to change them. A participant may transfer the whole agreement to an eligible person if the Secretaries of Transportation and Defense say it is in the United States’ best interests. A participant may replace a vessel with one eligible under section 53402(b) if the Secretary of Transportation, with the Secretary of Defense, approves; courts may not review those replacement decisions.