46 U.S.C. § 55101

Application of coastwise laws

Read at: OLRCuscode.house.gov CornellLII GovInfogovinfo.gov JustiaTitle 46 CasesGoogle Scholar

(a)In General.—Except as provided in subsection (b), the coastwise laws apply to the United States, including the island territories and possessions of the United States.(b)Exceptions.—The coastwise laws do not apply to—(1) American Samoa;(2) the Northern Mariana Islands, except as provided in section 502(b) of the Covenant To Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union With the United States of America (48 U.S.C. 1801 note); or(3) the Virgin Islands until the President declares by proclamation that the coastwise laws apply to the Virgin Islands.(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(c), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1632; Pub. L. 110–181, div. C, title XXXV, § 3527(a), Jan. 28, 2008, 122 Stat. 602.)

Historical and Revision Notes
Revised Section	Source (U.S. Code)	Source (Statutes at Large)
55101(a)	46 App.:877 (words before last proviso).	June 5, 1920, ch. 250, § 21, 41 Stat. 997; Apr. 16, 1936, ch. 228, 49 Stat. 1207; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(47), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 157.
55101(b)(1)	48:1664.	June 14, 1934, ch. 523, 48 Stat. 963.
55101(b)(2)	48:1801 note (Covenant § 503(b)).	Pub. L. 94–241, § 1, Mar. 24, 1976, 90 Stat. 263; Pub. L. 98–213, § 9, Dec. 8, 1983, 97 Stat. 1461; Pub. L. 104–208, div. A, title I, § 101(d) [title I], Sept. 30, 1996, 110 Stat. 3009–196.
55101(b)(3)	46 App.:877 note.	Proc. No. 3215, Dec. 12, 1957, 72 Stat. c19.
55101(b)(4)	46 App.:877 (last proviso).

In subsection (a), the words “apply to the United States, including” are substituted for “extend to” for clarity. The words “From and after February 1, 1922” and “not covered thereby on June 5, 1920” are omitted as obsolete. The requirement to establish adequate steamship service to the island Territories and possessions is omitted as obsolete.

Subsection (b)(2) is based on section 503(b) of the Covenant To Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union With the United States of America (48 U.S.C. 1801 note).

Subsection (b)(3) is based on Proc. No. 3215, Dec. 12, 1957, 72 Stat. c19, which provided that the President, “under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the aforesaid section 21 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1920 [46 App. U.S.C. 877], do hereby declare and proclaim that the period for the establishment of an adequate shipping service for Canton Island is extended until further notice by proclamation of the President, and that the extension of the coastwise laws of the United States to Canton Island is deferred until it is declared by proclamation of the President that such adequate shipping service has been established”.

In subsection (b)(4), the words “and fix a date for the going into effect of same” are omitted as surplus.

The provisos of 46 App. U.S.C. 877 relating to the Philippine Islands are omitted as obsolete because of the independence of the Philippine Islands. See Proc. No. 2695, July 4, 1946, 60 Stat. 1352 (22 U.S.C. 1394 note).

Editorial NotesReferences in Text

Section 502(b) of the Covenant To Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union With the United States of America, referred to in subsec. (b)(2), is contained in section 1 of Pub. L. 94–241, set out as a note under section 1801 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions.

Amendments

2008—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 110–181 inserted “or” after semicolon at end of par. (2), redesignated par. (4) as (3), and struck out former par. (3) which read as follows: “Canton Island until the President declares by proclamation that the coastwise laws apply to Canton Island; or”.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 3 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 2015–2025 · leading case: Perez-Kudzma v. United States, 940 F.3d 142 (1st Cir. 2019).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Perez-Kudzma v. United States, 940 F.3d 142 (1st Cir. 2019). “That provision, which applies to Puerto Rico, see 46 U.S.C. § 55101 (a), prohibits foreign-flag vessels from transporting merchandise between United States coastwise points, see id.”

United States v. Peake, 804 F.3d 81 (1st Cir. 2015). “988, 999 (1920) (codified as amended at 46 U.S.C. §§ 55101 , et seq.). Seeking to maximize revenues, Horizon Lines and Sea Star agreed not to undercut each other in price and allocated precise market share quotas through an extensive conspiracy that included bid rigging and…”

Great Lakes Dredge v. Magnus, 128 F.4th 678 (5th Cir. 2025). “Specifically, the company asked for a letter ruling on whether the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. §§ 55101–23, would bar foreign-flag vessels from trans- porting scour protection rock from U.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.