Maritime Transport Relief: Temporary Waiver of Coastwise Requirements for Product Carriers.
This Act establishes a process for temporarily waiving US vessel requirements (coastwise endorsement) for product carriers if there is a scarcity or unavailability of compliant carriers. The goal is to ensure the continuous supply of goods when traditional domestic maritime transport is unavailable. Citizens may experience an indirect impact through stable prices and product availability, as this facilitates the bulk transport of commodities like raw materials.
Key points
Establishes a procedure allowing temporary waivers of US vessel requirements (coastwise endorsement) if no compliant product carrier is available to transport specific goods.
Waiver requests must be approved or denied by the agency within 60 days; if no decision is made, the request is automatically deemed granted for 30 days.
Waivers are time-limited (minimum 30 days) and can be extended if the scarcity or unavailability circumstances have not substantially changed.
The agency must notify Congress of every request and issued waiver within 48 hours, providing a detailed explanation of the necessity.
Expired
Citizen Poll