Coastwise transportation; passengers; 46 U.S.C. §55103

HQ H018144 October 5, 2007 VES-3-02-RR:BSTC:CCI H018144 CK CATEGORY: Carriers Spencer D. Sens General Manager Inchcape Shipping Services 1100 Poydras Street Suite 1040 New Orleans, LA 70163 RE: Coastwise transportation; passengers; 46 U.S.C. §55103 Dear Mr. Sens: In your email letter of October 5, 2007, you requested that one service technician be allowed to travel aboard the non-coastwise-qualified vessel MV SITEAM TIGER from New Orleans, LA to Houston, TX. Our ruling on your request follows. FACTS: You requested that a service technician be allowed to travel aboard the non-coastwise-qualified MV SITEAM TIGER on a voyage from New Orleans, LA to Houston, TX. This service technician would embark October 7, 2007 at New Orleans, LA and disembark in Houston, TX on October 10, 2007. The service technician will board the vessel to check the vessel’s shaft generator. The service technician’s work will include a check of the performance of the clutch, the function of parts of the generator including the motor, check voltages, frequencies, circuitry, electronic control system panel, engines, updating the user manual and checking the supply of spare parts. ISSUE: Whether the service technician described above would be a passenger under the coastwise passenger statute, 46 U.S.C. §55103. LAW AND ANALYSIS: The coastwise passenger statute, 46 U.S.C. §55103 (recodified from former 46 U.S.C. App. 289; Pub.L. 109-304 October 6, 2006) provides that no vessel may transport passengers between ports or places in the United States either directly or by way of a foreign port, upon a penalty of $300 for every passenger so transported and landed (see 19 CFR 4.80(b), unless it has been documented for the coastwise trade under chapter 121 of Title 46, United States Code. Under section 55103 (see 19 CFR 4.80a(a)(5)), a “passenger” is any person carried aboard a vessel who is not connected with the operation of the vessel, her navigation, ownership, or business (19 CFR 4.50(b)). In this regard, as resolved in a June 5, 2002, Customs Bulletin notice (Vol. 36, No. 23, p. 50, persons transported on a vessel would be passengers unless they were “directly and substantially” connected with the operation, navigation, ownership, or business of that vessel itself. In the current context, Headquarters ruling (HQ) 116752, of November 3, 2006, is instructive in explaining the operative administrative law applicable in this context, as follows: [T]he Customs Service [now Customs and Border Protection (CBP)] has repeatedly ruled that if any persons are transported coastwise who are bona fide agents of the line or officers of companies acting as such agents and if such persons while on the voyage are concerned with observing and appraising the facilities offered, such persons…are not ‘passengers’ under section 289 [now section 55103] and §4.50(b) (emphasis added) (HQ 103410, of May 5, 1978 (operations manager of freight line transported coastwise aboard freight line’s vessel to observe vessel’s operational pattern thereby deemed connected with operation and business of vessel so as not to be passenger when being transported for this purpose)). HQ 116752 (emphasis added) (executive chef of cruise line transported aboard its vessel “to monitor and access the standards of [vessel’s culinary operation onboard” found to be connected with that vessel’s operation/business, and not considered passenger). Further we note that in accordance with previous Headquarters rulings, workmen, technicians, or observers transported by vessel between ports of the United States are not classified as “passengers” within the meaning of section 4.50(b) and 46 U.S.C. §55103 if they are required to be on board to contribute to the accomplishment of the operation or navigation of the vessel during the voyage, or are on board because of a necessary vessel ownership or business interest during the voyage. HQ 101699 (November 5, 1975); see also HQ 116721 (September 25, 2006, quoting HQ 101699). See also, HQ H17630, dated September 26, 2007, wherein a technician onboard to overhaul the diesel generator was not a passenger within the meaning of section 4.50(b) and 46 U.S.C. §55103. In the present case, the service technician will board the vessel to check the vessel’s shaft generator. The service technician’s work will include a check of the performance of the clutch, the function of parts of the generator including the motor, check voltages, frequencies, circuitry, electronic control system panel, engines, updating the user manual and checking the supply of spare parts. The service technician is directly and substantially connected to the operation of the vessel and is not a passenger for purposes of 46 U.S.C. §55103. HOLDING: Under the facts presented, the technician described above is not a passenger for purposes of administering 46 U.S.C. §55103. Hence, the proposed coastwise transportation of the technician aboard the MV SITEAM TIGER would not be in violation of 46 U.S.C. §55103. Sincerely, Glen E. Vereb Chief Cargo Security, Carriers & Immigration Branch