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Title 46, ShippingRelease 119-110

§57505 Employment of Vessels on Foreign Trade Routes

Title 46 › Subtitle V — Merchant Marine › Part F — Government-Owned Merchant Vessels › CHAPTER 575 — CONSTRUCTION, CHARTER, AND SALE OF VESSELS › SUBCHAPTER I — GENERAL › § 57505

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation must use the Department’s ships on steamship routes that serve only U.S. foreign trade if those routes are needed for U.S. commerce and national defense. Before doing that, the Secretary must find that private U.S. steamship lines, properly registered in the United States, are not already serving those routes well enough. The Secretary must try to get private parties to run any government-owned line by either selling the line to a U.S. citizen or leasing the Department’s ships to a U.S. citizen under a bareboat charter (leasing the ship without crew) if they agree to keep the line operating as the law requires.

Full Legal Text

Title 46, §57505

Shipping, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In General.—
The Secretary of Transportation shall arrange for the employment of the Department of Transportation’s vessels in steamship lines on such trade routes, exclusively serving the foreign trade of the United States, as the Secretary determines are essential for the development and maintenance of the commerce of the United States and the national defense. However, the Secretary shall first determine that those routes are not being adequately served by existing steamship lines privately owned and operated by citizens of the United States and documented under the laws of the United States.
(b)Policy To Encourage Private Operation.—
The Secretary shall have a policy of encouraging private operation of each essential steamship line now owned by the United States Government by—
(1)selling the line to a citizen of the United States; or
(2)demising the Secretary’s vessels on bareboat charter to citizens of the United States who agree to maintain the line in the manner provided in this chapter.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 57505(a)46 App.:1195 (1st sentence).June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title VII, § 705 (1st, 2d sentences), 49 Stat. 2009; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(107), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 163. 57505(b)46 App.:1195 (2d sentence). In subsection (a), the words “As soon as practicable after June 29, 1936, and continuing thereafter” are omitted as obsolete. The words “However, the Secretary shall first determine that those routes are not being adequately served” are substituted for “Provided, That such needs are not being adequately served” for clarity and because provisos are disfavored in modern drafting. In subsection (b)(1), the words “in the manner provided in section 7 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1920 [46 App. U.S.C. 866], and in strict accordance with the provisions of section 5 of said Act” are omitted because section 5 of that Act was repealed in 1988, and section 7 is being repealed as obsolete by this bill without being restated.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

46 U.S.C. § 57505

Title 46, Shipping

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110