I
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4236
To amend the Merchant Marine Act, 1920, to limit the restriction on carriage
of certain noncontainerized agricultural and bulk cargoes in coastwise
trade by foreign-built freight vessels.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 16, 1998
Mr. SMITH of Michigan (for himself, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. BOB SCHAFFER of
Colorado, and Mr. MCINTOSH) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on National Security, and in addition to the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be sub-
sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of
such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Merchant Marine Act, 1920, to limit the
restriction on carriage of certain noncontainerized agri-
cultural and bulk cargoes in coastwise trade by foreign-
built freight vessels.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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 wa-
terborne 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 ship-
builders 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 emer-
gency sealift capacity in times of national emer-
gency.
(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 transpor-
tation inefficiencies, all of which can be alleviated,
without any cost to the taxpayer, by increasing com-
petition in domestic deepwater shipping.
(6) Such inefficiencies undermine the competi-
tive position of a broad range of American busi-
nesses, 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 inter-
national market.
(7) Lack of access to adequate deepwater com-
mercial waterborne transportation alternatives sup-
presses 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 FOR-
EST 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 de-
part from a port in the United States;
‘‘(B) the term ‘qualified cargo’ means non-
containerized, nonliquid merchandise that is agricul-
tural cargo, bulk cargo, or forest products;
‘‘(C) the term ‘agricultural cargo’ includes
grains, livestock, fertilizer, seed, and other bulk agri-
cultural inputs;
‘‘(D) each of the terms ‘bulk cargo’ and ‘forest
products’ has the meaning that term has under sec-
tion 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 certifi-
cate of documentation for a freight vessel that was not
built in the United States may be endorsed with a coast-
wise 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 au-
thorized by the endorsement.
‘‘(2) Coastwise trade authorized by a coastwise en-
dorsement under this subsection shall consist solely of
deepwater transportation of qualified cargo (as those
terms are defined in section 27(b)(2)).’’.
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