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‘‘(1) agricultural commodities or their products acquired by the Cor-
poration are made available to United States exporters, users, proc-
essors, or foreign purchasers for the purpose of developing, maintain-
ing, or expanding export markets for United States agricultural com-
modities or their products at prevailing world market prices; 
‘‘(2) payments are made available to United States exporters, users, 
or processors or, except as provided in section 55314 of this title, cash 
grants are made available to foreign purchasers, for the purpose de-
scribed in paragraph (1); 
‘‘(3) commercial credit guarantees are blended with direct credits 
from the Corporation to reduce the effective rate of interest on export 
sales of United States agricultural commodities or their products; 
‘‘(4) credit or credit guarantees for not more than 3 years are ex-
tended by the Corporation to finance or guarantee export sales of 
United States agricultural commodities or their products; or 
‘‘(5) agricultural commodities or their products owned or controlled 
by or under loan from the Corporation are exchanged or bartered for 
materials, goods, equipment, or services at least equal in value to the 
agricultural commodities or their products for which they are ex-
changed or bartered (determined on the basis of prevailing world mar-
ket prices at the time of the exchange or barter), but this paragraph 
does not exempt from the cargo preference provisions referred to in 
section 55314(b) of this title any requirement otherwise applicable to 
the materials, goods, equipment, or services imported under the trans-
action. 
‘‘§ 55314. Transportation requirements for certain exports 
sponsored by the Secretary of Agriculture 
‘‘(a) MINIMUM TONNAGE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to the requirement under section 
55305 of this title for the transportation of a percentage of gross ton-
nage on United States documented commercial vessels, 25 percent of 
the gross tonnage of agricultural commodities or their products speci-
fied in subsection (b) shall be transported each calendar year on United 
States documented commercial vessels that— 
‘‘(A) are necessary for national security; and 
‘‘(B) if more than 25 years old, were rebuilt within the last 5 
years and certified by the Secretary of Transportation as having 
a useful life of at least 5 years after that rebuilding. 
‘‘(2) CALENDAR YEAR.—To provide for effective and equitable ad-
ministration of the cargo preference laws, the calendar year for the
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purpose of compliance with minimum percentage requirements is the 
12-month period beginning October 1 of each year. 
‘‘(b) APPLICABLE EXPORT ACTIVITY.—This section applies to export ac-
tivity (except inspection or weighing activities, other activities carried out 
for health or safety, or technical assistance provided in the handling of com-
mercial transactions) of the Secretary of Agriculture or the Commodity 
Credit Corporation— 
‘‘(1) carried out under the Agricultural Trade Development and As-
sistance Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1691 et seq.); 
‘‘(2) carried out under section 416 of the Agricultural Act of 1949 
(7 U.S.C. 1431); 
‘‘(3) carried out under the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust Act (7 
U.S.C. 1736f–1); 
‘‘(4) under which agricultural commodities or their products are— 
‘‘(A) donated through foreign governments or private or public 
agencies, including intergovernmental organizations; or 
‘‘(B) sold for foreign currencies or for dollars on credit terms 
of more than 10 years; 
‘‘(5) under which agricultural commodities or their products are 
made available for emergency food relief at less than prevailing world 
market prices; 
‘‘(6) under which a cash grant is made directly or through an inter-
mediary to a foreign purchaser to enable the purchaser to obtain 
United States agricultural commodities or their products in an amount 
greater than the difference between the prevailing world market price 
and the United States market price, free along side vessel at a United 
States port; or 
‘‘(7) under which agricultural commodities owned or controlled by or 
under loan from the Corporation are exchanged or bartered for mate-
rials, goods, equipment, or services produced in foreign countries, ex-
cept export activities described in section 55313(5) of this title. 
‘‘(c) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) APPLICATION OF SECTION 55305.—The requirement for trans-
portation on United States documented vessels under subsection (a) is 
subject to the same terms and conditions as provided in section 55305 
of this title. 
‘‘(2) ALLOCATION OF COMMODITIES.—Subject to paragraph (3), in 
carrying out this section and section 55305 of this title, the Corpora-
tion shall take steps necessary and practicable, and consistent with this 
section and section 55305, without detriment to any port range to allo-
cate, on the principle of lowest landed cost without regard to the coun-
192 
try of registry of the vessel, 25 percent of the bagged, processed, or 
fortified commodities provided under title II of the Agricultural Trade 
Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1721 et seq.). 
‘‘(3) CALCULATIONS.—In carrying out paragraph (2), first there 
shall be calculated the allocation of 100 percent of the quantity to be 
procured on an overall lowest landed cost basis without regard to the 
country of registry of the vessel, and then there shall be allocated to 
the Great Lakes port range any cargoes for which it has the lowest 
landed cost under that calculation. The requirements for transportation 
on United States documented vessels under this section and section 
55305 of this title do not apply to commodities allocated to the Great 
Lakes port range under paragraph (2). To the extent that the Great 
Lakes port range is used to furnish and transport less than 25 percent 
of the total annual tonnage of commodities to which paragraph (2) ap-
plies, the commodities allocated to the Great Lakes port range under 
paragraph (2) may not be reallocated or diverted to another port range 
to meet the requirements for transportation on United States docu-
mented vessels under this section and section 55305 of this title. 
‘‘(4) AWARDING CONTRACTS.—In awarding a contract for the trans-
portation by vessel of commodities from the Great Lakes port range 
pursuant to an export activity referred to in subsection (b), an agen-
cy— 
‘‘(A) shall consider expressions of freight interest for any vessel 
from a vessel operator who meets reasonable requirements for fi-
nancial and operational integrity; and 
‘‘(B) may not deny award of the contract to a person based on 
the type of vessel on which the transportation would be provided 
(including on the basis that the transportation would not be pro-
vided on a liner vessel, as that term is used in the Shipping Act 
of 1984, as in effect on November 14, 1995), if the person other-
wise satisfies reasonable requirements for financial and operational 
integrity. 
‘‘(5) NONAVAILABILITY OF VESSELS.—A determination of nonavail-
ability of United States documented vessels resulting from the applica-
tion of this subsection may not reduce the gross tonnage of commod-
ities required by this section and section 55305 of this title to be trans-
ported on United States documented vessels. 
‘‘§ 55315. Minimum tonnage 
‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘base period’ means the 5- 
year period running from the sixth through the second prior fiscal years.
193 
‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT.—For each fiscal year, the minimum quantity of ag-
ricultural commodities to be exported under programs subject to section 
55314 of this title is the average of the tonnage exported under those pro-
grams during the base period, discarding the high and low years. 
‘‘(c) WAIVERS.—The President may waive the minimum quantity for a 
fiscal year under this section if the President determines and reports to 
Congress, together with reasons, that the quantity cannot be used effectively 
for the purposes of those programs or, based on a certification by the Sec-
retary of Agriculture, that the commodities are not available for reasons 
that include the unavailability of funds. 
‘‘§ 55316. Financing the transportation of agricultural com-
modities 
‘‘(a) FINANCING OF INCREASED CHARGES.—The Secretary of Transpor-
tation shall finance any increased ocean freight charges incurred in any fis-
cal year that result from the application of section 55314 of this title. 
‘‘(b) REIMBURSEMENT OF INCREASED CHARGES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation shall reimburse 
the Secretary of Agriculture and the Commodity Credit Corporation for 
the amount by which, in any fiscal year— 
‘‘(A) the total cost of ocean freight and ocean freight differen-
tial for which obligations are incurred by the Secretary of Agri-
culture and the Corporation on exports of agricultural commodities 
and their products under the agricultural export programs speci-
fied in section 55314(b) of this title; exceeds 
‘‘(B) 20 percent of the value of the commodities and their prod-
ucts and the cost of the ocean freight and ocean freight differen-
tial on which obligations are incurred by the Secretary of Agri-
culture and the Corporation during that fiscal year. 
‘‘(2) COMMODITIES SHIPPED FROM INVENTORY.—For purposes of 
this subsection, commodities shipped from the inventory of the Cor-
poration shall be valued as provided in section 412(d) of the Agricul-
tural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 
1736f(d)). 
‘‘(c) ISSUANCE AND PURCHASE OF OBLIGATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) ISSUANCE.—To meet the expenses required to be assumed 
under subsections (a) and (b), the Secretary of Transportation shall 
issue obligations to the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary of 
Transportation, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
shall prescribe the form, denomination, maturity, and other terms (ex-
cept the interest rate) of the obligations. The Secretary of the Treasury 
shall set the interest rate for the obligations, considering the average