§53407 National Security Requirements

Summary

Require the Secretary of Transportation, working with the Secretary of Defense, to set up an emergency preparedness program. Anyone who signs an operating agreement must also sign an emergency preparedness agreement. The Secretary must negotiate and sign that emergency agreement soon after the operating agreement starts. The agreement must say that the Secretary of Defense can request, during war, national emergency, or other national security needs, that the participant provide commercial transportation resources like ships or ship space, terminals, management, and related services. The two Secretaries can add other terms, and the agreement can be changed later if all parties agree and the Secretary of Defense approves. The Secretary of Transportation cannot force a participant to stay in the emergency program after the operating agreement ends, except as section 53406 allows; a participant can stay on voluntarily. The Department of Defense must pay fair and reasonable compensation. That pay must be at least the participant’s normal commercial market rate, cover the full time the resource is used until it can return to commercial service, and be separate from any payments under section 53406. Foreign-flag vessels may be used temporarily as replacements when U.S. vessels are activated. When use ends, resources must be returned in like condition (normal wear excepted) or the government must pay to repair or replace them. The government is not liable for business disruption or other indirect damages unless the agreement or another law says otherwise.