Vessel entry; 19 U.S.C. § 1434; Outer Continental Shelf

HQ H058937 May 12, 2009 VES-5-07-OT:RR:BSTC:CCI H058937 JLB CATEGORY: Carriers Ms. Amber Lamkins Manager, Material and Logistics Controls Suez Energy Generation NA LLC 1990 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 1900 Houston, Texas 77056 RE: Vessel entry; 19 U.S.C. § 1434; Outer Continental Shelf Dear Ms. Lamkins: This letter is in response to your correspondence dated April 24, 2009, in which you request a ruling on whether a construction support vessel may travel directly from Canada to a project site located beyond the U.S. territorial sea without having to make formal entry under 19 U.S.C. § 1434. Our ruling on your request follows. FACTS Your company, Neptune LNG LLC, is building a deepwater port system (“DWP”) approximately ten miles south of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The Neptune DWP is a dual buoy system where specially designed LNG vessels will moor and discharge natural gas by using onboard vaporization equipment. The natural gas will be transported to the mainland via a 13-mile long sub-sea pipeline lateral which connects to the existing pipeline, the Spectra Algonquin Hubline. The construction of the Neptune DWP involved the installation of the 13-mile sub-sea pipeline lateral, which was completed in 2008. Currently, your company wishes to install the subsea system that consists of two turret loading buoys, two mooring systems, two sets of umbilical systems, and risers. These DWP materials are currently disassembled and being mobilized in the port of Saint John located in New Brunswick, Canada. At the port of Saint John, the installation contractor is loading the system by its parts (buoys, mooring system, umbilicals, and risers) onto an offshore construction support vessel. This vessel will carry the parts for the system directly from Saint John to the project site and install the DWP directly from the vessel. The construction support vessel will need to take six trips from Saint John to the project site to carry all the parts of the DWP. During the actual construction of the DWP, a diving support team will dive from the construction support vessel to construct and anchor the mooring system, risers and umbilical systems to the seabed of the OCS and to the sub-sea pipeline lateral. However, the DWP will not be connected through a hot tap to the Spectra Algonquin Hubline, a pipeline for natural gas, until the construction of the DWP is completed. During the operation in question, the vessel will be operating under dynamic positioning and will not be moored to the sea floor. You inquire whether the construction support vessel must make formal entry if it is traveling directly from the port of Saint John to Neptune’s project site. ISSUE Whether the vessel described above must make formal entry under 19 U.S.C. § 1434(a)? LAW AND ANALYSIS Title 19, United States Code, section 1434(a) (19 U.S.C. § 1434(a)) provides that within 24 hours (or such other period of time as may be provided under subsection (c)(2) of this section) after the arrival at any port or place in the United States of— (1) any vessel from a foreign port or place; (2) any foreign vessel from a domestic port; (3) any vessel of the United States having on board foreign merchandise for which entry has not been made; or (4) any vessel which has visited a hovering vessel or has delivered or received merchandise while outside the territorial sea; the master of the vessel shall, unless otherwise provided by law, make formal entry at the nearest customs facility or such other place as the Secretary may prescribe by regulation. Accordingly, it must be determined whether the construction support vessel transporting the disassembled DWP directly from the port of Saint John, Canada to the project site, located approximately ten miles south of Gloucester, Massachusetts arrives at “any port or place in the United States.” Pursuant to Section 4(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953 (“OCSLA”), as amended (43 U.S.C. § 1333(a)), the laws of the United States are extended “to the subsoil and seabed of the Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”) and to all artificial islands, and all installations and other devices permanently or temporarily attached to the seabed, which may be erected thereon for the purpose of exploring for, developing, or producing resources therefrom, or any such installation or other device (other than a ship or vessel) for the purpose of transporting such resources, to the same extent as if the OCS were an area of exclusive Federal jurisdiction located within a State.” Under the foregoing provision, we have ruled that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) and navigation laws, including the coastwise laws, the laws on entrance and clearance of vessels, and the provisions for dutiability of merchandise, are extended to mobile oil drilling rigs during the period they are secured to or submerged onto the seabed of the OCS. See Treasury Decision (T.D.) 54281(1); Headquarters Ruling Letter 115134, dated September 27, 2000; Headquarters Ruling Letter 111329, dated December 5, 1990. Arrival, entry and clearance requirements administered by CBP (see 19 U.S.C. §§ 1433, 1434 and 46 U.S.C. § 60105, respectively) do not apply to a vessel when it initially attaches to a point on the OCS at which there is no existing structure that constitutes a coastwise point for purposes of the OCSLA. See Headquarters Ruling Letter 112611, dated June 23, 1993. We have applied the same principles to drilling platforms, artificial islands, and similar structures, as well as devices attached to the seabed of the OCS for the purpose of resource exploration operations, including warehouse vessels anchored over the OCS when used to supply drilling rigs on the OCS. See Customs Service Decisions (C.S.D.s) 81-214 and 83-52; Headquarters Ruling Letter 107579, dated May 9, 1985. As stated above, Title 19, United States Code, section 1434(a)(1) (19 U.S.C. § 1434(a)(1)), provides that formal vessel entry is required of any vessels arriving at any point or place in the United States from foreign ports or places. At the point of arrival in question, there will not be an installation or other device attached to the seabed of the OCS for the purpose of exploring for, developing, or producing resources therefrom, or any installation or other device for the purpose of transporting such resources. While a sub-sea pipeline currently exists at the project site, it is to be used as a conveyance for natural gas originating from a location not on the OCS. Consequently, this location is one to which the laws of the United States do not apply pursuant to the OCSLA. Thus, under the facts presented, the subject vessel is not required to make formal entry pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1434(a)(1), since the vessel does not arrive at a United States port or place. Parenthetically, we note that the Deepwater Port Act of 1974 (the “Act”; 33 U.S.C. §§ 1501 et seq.) provides that the laws of the United States, generally, are made applicable to deepwater ports (as defined in 33 U.S.C. § 1502(9)(a)) pursuant to § 1518(a)(1) of the Act and only the “Customs laws” (see Title 19, United States Code) are specifically made inapplicable under § 1518(d). The vessel entry statute is set forth in Title 19, United States Code, § 1434, the “Customs laws,” and therefore, is specifically inapplicable to DWPs such as the Neptune DWP. However, since in this instance the Neptune DWP is not yet constructed or operational, the Deepwater Port Act of 1974 is irrelevant for determining whether the construction support vessel must make entry under 19 U.S.C. § 1434(a). HOLDING The vessel described above is not required to make formal vessel entry under 19 U.S.C. § 1434(a). Sincerely, Glen E. Vereb, Chief Cargo Security, Carriers and Immigration Branch