Shipping Relief for Agriculture Act of 1998

Summary: Shipping Relief for Agriculture Act of 1998 - Amends Merchant Marine Act, 1920 provisions concerning transportation of merchandise between points in the United States in other than domestic or rebuilt and documented vessels to remove the restriction that a vessel must be constructed in the United States in order to engage in deepwater transportation of agricultural cargo, bulk cargo, and forest products, if the vessel:  (1) is documented under U.S. laws; (2) is owned by U.S. citizens; and (3) otherwise meets the requirements of such provisions. 
Amends other Federal law concerning the endorsement of a certificate of documentation with a coastwise endorsement to permit a freight vessel that was not built in the United States to be endorsed with a coastwise endorsement if the vessel is eligible for documentation and is otherwise qualified, but only with respect to the deepwater transportation of the types of cargo listed above.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Shipping Relief for Agriculture Act 
of 1998''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Efficient, competitive, broadly available waterborne 
        cargo transportation service is imperative to American 
        agriculture and an essential component of a national intermodal 
        transportation system, and such services should be promoted by 
        the United States.
            (2) The cost of building ships in the United States is so 
        uncompetitive with international shipbuilders that it is 
        effectively prohibiting the growth and modernization of the 
        Jones Act fleet.
            (3) The decline of ships of over 1,000 tons in the Jones 
        Act fleet, and the resulting decrease in the number of seamen, 
        represents a dimunition in emergency sealift capacity in times 
        of national emergency.
            (4) In the last several decades, the size of the active 
        United States domestic deepwater fleet has shrunk 
        substantially, to a total today of only 118 self-propelled 
        oceangoing vessels of over 1,000 tons and 59 vessels in the 
        Great Lakes. No Jones Act bulk carriers operate on either coast 
        of the United States.
            (5) The result has been shipping shortages, higher prices, 
        and significant commercial transportation inefficiencies, all 
        of which can be alleviated, without any cost to the taxpayer, 
        by increasing competition in domestic deepwater shipping.
            (6) Such inefficiencies undermine the competitive position 
        of a broad range of American businesses, particularly in 
        potential domestic markets, versus their foreign competition. 
        These shipping shortages and higher-than-market prices have led 
        to the loss of American jobs to overseas competitors able to 
        purchase transportation services on the international market.
            (7) Lack of access to adequate deepwater commercial 
        waterborne transportation alternatives suppresses economic 
        activity in an amount of between $4,200,000,000 and 
        $10,000,000,000 annually and causes the loss of associated tax 
        revenue, according to a study by the United States 
        International Trade Commission.
            (8) Similarly, allowing domestic transportation service 
        providers to purchase their vessels on the international market 
        without penalty will lower their operating expenses, creating 
        savings which they can pass on to their customers in the form 
        of lower prices and improved efficiency.
            (9) Expansion of the Jones Act fleet will create more jobs 
        for United States seamen and longshore workers.

SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON APPLICATION OF COASTWISE TRADE RESTRICTION ON 
              TRANSPORTATION OF CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL, BULK, OR FOREST 
              PRODUCT CARGO BY FREIGHT VESSELS.

    (a) Amendment to the Merchant Marine Act, 1920.--Section 27 of the 
Merchant Marine Act, 1920 (46 U.S.C. App. 883), is amended by inserting 
``(a)'' after ``Sec. 27.'', and by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b)(1) Any requirement under this section that a vessel must be 
constructed in the United States shall not apply with respect to 
deepwater transportation of qualified cargo by a freight vessel, if the 
vessel--
            ``(A) is documented under the laws of the United States;
            ``(B) is owned by persons who are citizens of the United 
        States; and
            ``(C) otherwise complies with this section with respect to 
        that transportation.
    ``(2) In this subsection--
            ``(A) the term `deepwater transportation' means any 
        combination of--
                    ``(i) transportation outside the Boundary Line;
                    ``(ii) transportation on the Great Lakes; and
                    ``(iii) such transportation inside the Boundary 
                Line as is necessary to enter or depart from a port in 
                the United States;
            ``(B) the term `qualified cargo' means noncontainerized, 
        nonliquid merchandise that is agricultural cargo, bulk cargo, 
        or forest products;
            ``(C) the term `agricultural cargo' includes grains, 
        livestock, fertilizer, seed, and other bulk agricultural 
        inputs;
            ``(D) each of the terms `bulk cargo' and `forest products' 
        has the meaning that term has under section 3 of the Shipping 
        Act of 1984 (46 U.S.C. App. 1702)); and
            ``(E) each of the terms `Boundary Line' and `freight 
        vessel' has the meaning that term has under section 2101 of 
        title 46, United States Code.''.
    (b) Amendment to Title 46, United States Code.--Section 12106 of 
title 46, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(f)(1) Notwithstanding subsection (a)(2), a certificate of 
documentation for a freight vessel that was not built in the United 
States may be endorsed with a coastwise endorsement under this 
subsection if the vessel--
            ``(A) is eligible for documentation; and
            ``(B) otherwise qualifies under the laws of the United 
        States to be employed in coastwise trade authorized by the 
        endorsement.
    ``(2) Coastwise trade authorized by a coastwise endorsement under 
this subsection shall consist solely of deepwater transportation of 
qualified cargo (as those terms are defined in section 27(b)(2)).''.