Leaving Ship Early - Legal?

[lcumpire]

My name is Larry and my wife and I are taking the Norwegian Majesty from Philadelphia to Saint Johns, NB and then to Boston before returning to Philadelphia.

 

I was thinking about leaving the ship in Boston and then fly back home to D.C. a few days later.

 

Does anyone know if I can do that - is it legal?

 

Thanx

 

Larry

[smeyer418]

My name is Larry and my wife and I are taking the Norwegian Majesty from Philadelphia to Saint Johns, NB and then to Boston before returning to Philadelphia.

 

I was thinking about leaving the ship in Boston and then fly back home to D.C. a few days later.

 

Does anyone know if I can do that - is it legal?

 

Thanx

 

Larry

 

 

no its not it violates the PVSA and will cause you to pay a $300 per person fine.

 

They won't stop you but you will have to pay the fine.

 

The rule is you have to return to the same US port you left from unless you stop at a distant foreign port(which would be South America or the ABC islands). Any foreign port in North America/central America is a nearby foreign port(as is Bermuda and the Islands in the Caribbean)

[lcumpire]

no its not it violates the PVSA and will cause you to pay a $300 per person fine.

 

They won't stop you but you will have to pay the fine.

 

The rule is you have to return to the same US port you left from unless you stop at a distant foreign port(which would be South America or the ABC islands). Any foreign port in North America/central America is a nearby foreign port(as is Bermuda and the Islands in the Caribbean)

 

Thank you for the info. I thought I had seen something like that on another thread but I was not sure. I think that I will probably just come home and play golf over the weekend.

 

Thanx again

[GTJ]

no its not it violates the PVSA and will cause you to pay a $300 per person fine.

 

Or more precisely, the statute imposes a fine against the cruise line. Your contract with the cruise line states that you will indemnify the line for any fines it receives as a result of your conduct.

 

There's a nice summary of the Passenger Vessel Services Act in a recent solicitation of comments from the Department of Homeland Security regarding a proposed interpretation of the Act. I've copied that summary below, along with the cited regulation concerning the definition of "nearby" and "distant" foreign ports.

 

II. Background

 

The maritime cabotage law governing the transportation of passengers was first established by section 8 of the Passenger Vessel Services Act of June 19, 1886 (the "PVSA"), 24 Stat. 81; as amended by section 2 of the Act of February 17, 1898, 30 Stat. 248, formerly codified at 46 U.S.C. App. 289 (now codified at 46 U.S.C. 55103). That statute provided that no foreign vessel shall transport passengers between ports or places in the United States, either directly or by way of a foreign port, under a penalty of $200 (now $300, as promulgated in T.D. 03-11 pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, 28 U.S.C. 2461 note) for each passenger so transported and landed.

 

The intent of the maritime cabotage laws, including the PVSA, was to provide a "legal structure that guarantees a coastwise monopoly to American shipping and thereby promotes development of the American merchant marine." Autolog Corp. v. Regan, 731 F.2d 25, 28 (DC Cir. 1984); see also The Granada, 35 F.Supp. 892, 893, 1940 AMC 1601 (DC Pa 1940) (stating that the legislative aim of section 289 [now 55102] was the creation of a practical monopoly of coastwise and domestic shipping business for United States ships). In other words, the PVSA was enacted to advance the United States merchant marine and fleet by restricting the use of foreign-owned/flagged passenger vessels in United States territorial waters.

 

Passenger vessel transportation between United States ports has historically been viewed to be part of the coastwise trade after the enactment of the PVSA. This view is premised on the concepts of continuity of the voyage and whether its intended purpose or objective was coastwise transportation. In other words, the PVSA was held to be violated if the coastwise movement was continuous or if the purpose of the trip was a coastwise voyage. (See 18 O.A.G. 445, September 4, 1886; 28 O.A.G. 204, February 16, 1910; 29 O.A.G. 318, February 12, 1912; 30 O.A.G. 44, February 1, 1913; 34 O.A.G. 340, December 24, 1924; and 36 O.A.G. 352, August 13, 1930.)

 

The CBP regulations promulgated pursuant to the PVSA are found at section 4.80a of title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations (19 CFR 4.80a) and are reflective of the above cited Office of the Attorney General decisions. These regulations provide, among other things, that a non-coastwise-qualified vessel which "embarks" a passenger at a port in the United States embraced within the coastwise laws (a "coastwise port") will be deemed to have landed that passenger in violation of the PVSA if the passenger "disembarks" at a different coastwise port on a voyage to one or more coastwise ports and a "nearby foreign port or ports" (as defined in 19 CFR 4.80a(a)(2); see also 19 CFR 4.80a(b)(2)). The terms "embark" and "disembark" are words of art which are defined as going on board a vessel for the duration of a specific voyage, and leaving a vessel at the conclusion of a specific voyage, respectively. (See 19 CFR 4.80a(a)(4).)

 

The references in section 4.80a to "nearby foreign ports" (defined in 19 CFR 4.80a(a)(2)) are the results of attempts by CBP to apply an Office of the Attorney General's opinion dated February 26, 1910 (28 O.A.G. 204). In that case, a foreign-flag vessel transported 615 passengers on a voyage around the world, beginning in New York and concluding in San Francisco. The Attorney General opined that since the primary object of the voyage was to visit various parts of the world on a pleasure tour returning home via California, and not to be transported in domestic commerce, the transportation was not in violation of the PVSA.

 

The 1910 Attorney General's opinion was extended to voyages that included foreign ports other than nearby foreign ports. (See Treasury Decision (T.D.) 68-285 (33 FR 16558), November 14, 1968.) However, voyages solely to one or more coastwise ports have always been considered predominantly coastwise. Therefore non-coastwise-qualified vessels engaging in such a voyage where passengers temporarily go ashore at a coastwise port have been deemed to have violated the PVSA.

III. Current Law and Policy

 

Pursuant to Public Law 109-304, 120 Stat. 1632, enacted on October 6, 2006, Title 46, United States Code, was substantially reorganized and recodified. Consequently, the PVSA is now codified at 46 U.S.C. 55103 and provides that no vessel shall transport passengers between ports or places in the United States, either directly or by way of a foreign port, under a penalty of $300 for each person so transported and landed, except one that: (1) Is wholly owned by citizens of the United States for purposes of engaging in the coastwise trade; and (2) has been issued a certificate of documentation with a coastwise endorsement or is exempt from documentation but would otherwise be eligible for such a certificate and endorsement.

 

In 2003, Congress enacted Public Law 108-7, Division B, Title II, Section 211, for the purpose of revitalizing the oceangoing U.S.-flag cruise industry in Hawaii (the "2003 Act"). Three oceangoing U.S.-flag cruise ships, PRIDE OF ALOHA, PRIDE OF AMERICA and PRIDE OF HAWAII, were documented with coastwise privileges pursuant to the 2003 Act. These vessels entered regular service in Hawaii in 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively, and pursuant to the express language of the 2003 Act, are limited in their operation to providing "* * * regular service transporting passengers between or among the islands of Hawaii * * *"

 

The CBP regulations promulgated pursuant to the PVSA are set forth in 19 CFR 4.80a and have remained unchanged throughout both the recodification of Title 46 of the United States Code and the enactment of the 2003 Act. They provide that a violation of the PVSA occurs when passengers "embark" (board a vessel for the duration of a voyage) a non-coastwise-qualified vessel at one U.S. port, and "disembark" (leave the vessel at the conclusion of a voyage) at a different U.S. port, unless they proceed with the vessel to a "distant foreign port" (i.e., any port not considered a "nearby foreign port" which is defined as any port located in North America, Central America, Bermuda, or the West Indies including the Bahamas). Currently, these regulations do not contain specific criteria for non-coastwise-qualified vessels on itineraries including U.S. ports and either "nearby" or "distant" foreign ports in order for such foreign port calls to be compliant with the PVSA.

 

To reiterate, the applicable CBP regulations provide that the PVSA is violated when a non-coastwise-qualified vessel transports a passenger on a voyage solely to one or more coastwise ports and the passenger disembarks or goes ashore temporarily at a coastwise port. (19 CFR 4.80a(b)(1).) Furthermore, a violation of the PVSA also occurs when a non-coastwise-qualified vessel transports a passenger on a voyage to one or more coastwise ports and a nearby foreign port or ports (but no other foreign port) and the passenger disembarks at a coastwise port other than the port of embarkation. (19 CFR 4.80a(b)(2).) However, there is no violation of the PVSA when a passenger is on a voyage to one or more coastwise ports and a distant foreign port or ports (whether or not the voyage includes a nearby foreign port or ports) and the passenger disembarks at a coastwise port, provided the passenger has proceeded with the vessel to a distant foreign port. (19 CFR 4.80a(b)(3).)

72 Fed. Reg. 65,487 (Nov. 21, 2007)

Sec. 4.80a Coastwise transportation of passengers.

 

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms will have the meaning set forth below:

 

(1) Coastwise port means a port in the U.S., its territories, or possessions embraced within the coastwise laws.

 

(2) Nearby foreign port means any foreign port in North America, Central America, the Bermuda Islands, or the West Indies (including the Bahama Islands, but not including the Leeward Islands of the Netherlands Antilles, i.e., Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao). A port in the U.S. Virgin Islands shall be treated as a nearby foreign port.

 

(3) Distant foreign port means any foreign port that is not a nearby port.

 

(4) Embark means a passenger boarding a vessel for the duration of a specific voyage and disembark means a passenger leaving a vessel at the conclusion of a specific voyage. The terms embark and disembark are not applicable to a passenger going ashore temporarily at a coastwise port who reboards the vessel and departs with it on sailing from the port.

 

(5) Passenger has the meaning defined in Sec. 4.50(b).

19 C.F.R. § 4.80a