Law Commons^™

American Coastwise Trade Law, Mark Dean Aspinwall

Theses and Major Papers

Federal involvement in the shipping industry dates back to 1789. Since then, governmental efforts to promote the American merchant marine have taken a variety of forms, including the prohibition of foreign shipping from the coastwise trade. To this end, laws have been enacted which deal with specific activities considered to be coastwise trade in nature and which ban the use of foreign-flag and, in some cases, foreign-built ships from those activities. However, the laws are narrowly worded and archaic, and have been unable to adequately address modern trends in coastal commerce. Maritime service industries have emerged in recent years which …