I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 667
To amend title 46, United States Code, to allow transportation of merchandise
in noncontiguous trade on foreign-flag vessels, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY23, 2025
Mr. C
ASE(for himself and Mr. MOYLAN) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and
in addition to the Committee on Education and Workforce, for a period
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To amend title 46, United States Code, to allow transpor-
tation of merchandise in noncontiguous trade on foreign-
flag vessels, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Noncontiguous Ship-4
ping Relief Act of 2024’’. 5
SEC. 2. TRANSPORTATION OF CERTAIN MERCHANDISE. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 55102 of title 46, United 7
States Code, is amended by redesignating subsection (c) 8
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H667.IH H667
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 667 IH
as subsection (d) and by inserting after subsection (b) the 1
following: 2
‘‘(c) N
ONCONTIGUOUSTRADEEXEMPTION.— 3
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subsection (b) shall not 4
apply with respect to transportation in noncontig-5
uous trade of merchandise on a foreign qualified 6
freight vessel for which the Secretary of Transpor-7
tation has issued a certificate of documentation 8
under chapter 121. 9
‘‘(2) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 10
‘‘(A) F
OREIGN QUALIFIED FREIGHT VES -11
SEL.—The term ‘foreign qualified freight vessel’ 12
means a freight vessel (as that term is defined 13
in section 2101) of not less than 1,000 gross 14
tons that— 15
‘‘(i) was not built in the United States 16
(or if rebuilt, not rebuilt in the United 17
States); 18
‘‘(ii) is registered in a foreign country; 19
and 20
‘‘(iii) employs United States citizens 21
to the extent required of vessels registered 22
under section 12102. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H667.IH H667
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 667 IH
‘‘(B) NONCONTIGUOUS TRADE .—The term 1
‘noncontiguous trade’ has the meaning given 2
such term in section 53501.’’. 3
(b) C
OASTWISE ENDORSEMENTS.—Section 4
12112(a)(2)(B) of title 46, United States Code, is amend-5
ed— 6
(1) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘or’’; 7
(2) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘and’’ and insert-8
ing ‘‘or’’; and 9
(3) by adding at the end the following: 10
‘‘(iv) is a foreign qualified freight vessel 11
(as defined in section 55102(c)) used for trans-12
portation referred to in section 55102(c) for 13
which the Secretary of Transportation has 14
issued a certificate of documentation; and’’. 15
(c) F
OREIGNTRANSFER.—Section 56101(a)(2) of 16
title 46, United States Code, is amended— 17
(1) by striking ‘‘Paragraph (1)(A)’’ and insert-18
ing: 19
‘‘(A) F
ISHING VESSEL .—Paragraph 20
(1)(A)’’; and 21
(2) by adding at the end the following: 22
‘‘(B) F
OREIGN QUALIFIED FREIGHT VES -23
SEL.—Paragraph (1) does not apply with re-24
spect to a foreign qualified freight vessel for 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H667.IH H667
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 667 IH
which the Secretary has issued a certificate of 1
documentation after the date of enactment of 2
the Noncontiguous Shipping Relief Act of 2024 3
and that is used solely for transportation re-4
ferred to in section 55102(c). 5
‘‘(C) F
OREIGN REGISTRY .—A foreign 6
qualified freight vessel may be placed under for-7
eign registry without the approval of the Sec-8
retary at any time after such vessel is issued a 9
certificate of documentation. At such time as 10
such vessel is placed under foreign registry, the 11
Secretary shall revoke the certificate of docu-12
mentation issued by the Secretary.’’. 13
SEC. 3. CITIZENSHIP AND TRANSFER PROVISIONS. 14
(a) C
ITIZENSHIP OFCORPORATIONS, PARTNERSHIPS, 15
ANDASSOCIATIONS.—Section 50501 of title 46, United 16
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-17
lowing: 18
‘‘(e) E
XCEPTIONS.—Subsection (c) and paragraphs 19
(2) and (3) of subsection (b) shall not apply to a foreign 20
qualified freight vessel (as such term is defined in section 21
55102(c)) used for transportation referred to in section 22
55102(c)(2)(B).’’. 23
(b) A
PPROVAL OFTRANSFER OFREGISTRY OROP-24
ERATIONUNDERAUTHORITY OF AFOREIGNCOUNTRY OR 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H667.IH H667
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•HR 667 IH
FORSCRAPPING IN AFOREIGNCOUNTRY; PENALTIES.— 1
Section 56101 of title 46, United States Code, is amended 2
by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(f) T
RANSFER OFFOREIGNQUALIFIEDFREIGHT 4
V
ESSELS.—To promote the transfer of foreign qualified 5
freight vessels to be documented under chapter 121 of this 6
title for use for transportation referred to in section 7
55102(c)(2)(B) of this title, the Secretary may grant ap-8
proval under subsection (a) with respect to such a vessel 9
before the date the vessel is documented. 10
‘‘(g) F
OREIGNQUALIFIEDFREIGHTVESSELDE-11
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘foreign qualified freight 12
vessel’ has the meaning given such term in section 13
55102(c) of this title.’’. 14
SEC. 4. LABOR PROVISIONS. 15
(a) L
IABILITY FORINJURY ORDEATH OFMASTER 16
ORCREWMEMBER.—Section 30104(a) of title 46, United 17
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-18
lowing: ‘‘In an action brought under this section against 19
a defendant employer that does not reside or maintain an 20
office in the United States (including any territory or pos-21
session of the United States) and that engages in any en-22
terprise that makes use of one or more ports in the United 23
States (as defined in section 2101 of this title) jurisdiction 24
shall be under the district court most proximate to the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H667.IH H667
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•HR 667 IH
place of the occurrence of the personal injury or death that 1
is the subject of the action.’’. 2
(b) E
LECTIONTOUNDERPARTICIPATELONGSHORE 3
ANDHARBORWORKERS’ COMPENSATIONACT.—Section 4
30104 of title 46, United States Code, is amended by add-5
ing at the end the following: 6
‘‘(c) P
ARTICIPATION IN ANAUTHORIZEDCOMPENSA-7
TIONPLAN.—The employer of a master or member of the 8
crew of a vessel may participate in an authorized com-9
pensation plan under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ 10
Compensation Act (33 U.S.C. 901 et seq.). An employer 11
that participates in such a plan is subject to such Act. 12
If an employer participates in an authorized compensation 13
plan under such Act— 14
‘‘(1) a master or crew member employed by 15
such employer shall be considered to be an employee 16
for the purposes of such Act; and 17
‘‘(2) the liability of that employer under such 18
Act to the master or crew member, or to any person 19
otherwise entitled to recover damages from the em-20
ployer based on the injury, disability, or death of the 21
master or crew member, shall be exclusive and in 22
lieu of all other liability.’’. 23
(c) M
INIMUMREQUIREMENTS.—All vessels, whether 24
documented in the United States or not, operating in the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H667.IH H667
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7
•HR 667 IH
coastwise trade of the United States shall be subject to 1
minimum international labor standards for seafarers 2
under international agreements in force for the United 3
States, as determined by the Secretary of Transportation 4
on the advice of the Secretaries of Labor and Defense. 5
SEC. 5. REGULATIONS REGARDING VESSELS. 6
(a) A
PPLICABLEMINIMUMREQUIREMENTS.—Except 7
as provided in subsection (b), the minimum requirements 8
for vessels engaging in the transportation of cargo or mer-9
chandise in the United States coastwise trade shall be the 10
recognized international standards in force for the United 11
States (as determined by the Secretary of the department 12
in which the Coast Guard is operating, in consultation 13
with any other official of the Federal Government that the 14
Secretary determines to be appropriate). 15
(b) C
ONSISTENCY IN APPLICATION OF STAND-16
ARDS.—In any case in which any minimum requirement 17
for vessels referred to in subsection (a) establishes a lower 18
standard than a minimum that is applicable to vessels that 19
are documented in a foreign country and that are admit-20
ted to engage in the transportation of cargo and merchan-21
dise in the United States coastwise trade, the standard 22
applicable to such vessels that are documented in a foreign 23
country shall be the standard to be applied to United 24
States documented vessels. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H667.IH H667
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8
•HR 667 IH
SEC. 6. ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS. 1
All vessels, whether documented under the laws of the 2
United States or not, engaging in the United States coast-3
wise trade shall comply with all applicable United States 4
and international environmental standards in force for the 5
United States. 6
SEC. 7. REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN NONCITIZENS IR-7
REGULARLY ENGAGING IN DOMESTIC COAST-8
WISE TRADE. 9
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Each person or entity that is not 10
a citizen of the United States, as defined in section 104 11
of title 46, United States Code, that owns or operates ves-12
sels that irregularly engage in the United States domestic 13
coastwise trade shall— 14
(1) name an agent upon whom process may be 15
served; 16
(2) abide by all applicable laws of the United 17
States, including applicable environmental and tax 18
laws; and 19
(3) post evidence of documentation and en-20
dorsements aboard such vessel indicating the owner 21
or owners of such vessel, including any person con-22
trolling vessels and the number of port calls and 23
coastwise trips made during that calendar year. 24
(b) P
ERSONSTREATED ASSINGLEEMPLOYER.—For 25
purposes of paragraph (3) of subsection (a), all persons 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H667.IH H667
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9
•HR 667 IH
treated as a single employer under subsection (a) or (b) 1
of section 52 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall 2
be treated as 1 person. 3
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 Feb 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H667.IH H667
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB