Newly Released CBP HQ Rulings July 26

July 28, 2023 by Ben Perkins|Customs Rulings

The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated July 26 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):

H328718: Coastwise Transportation; Monopile Foundation; 46 U.S.C. § 55102; 46 U.S.C. § 55111.

Ruling: The transportation of monopile foundations from a U.S. coastwise point to a pristine seabed site on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) by a non-coastwise-qualified vessel would not violate the Jones Act.

Items: The use a foreign-flagged, non-coastwise-qualified vessel to install monopiles for offshore wind turbine generators. Multiple monopiles will be loaded aboard the vessel in a U.S. port. The installation vessel will sail to the federal lease area in U.S. waters where it will install each monopile at a pristine seabed site while maintaining its position utilizing a dynamic positioning (“DP”) system, with the intention of remaining unanchored from the seabed. However, the installation vessel may have to anchor at an installation site depending on weather conditions before it commences monopile installation operations at each site. The monopile will be the first installed item on the pristine seabed at each future wind turbine generator location

Issue: Whether the process of installing monopiles described above using a foreign-flagged installation vessel would result in a violation of the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 55102?

Reason: CBP previously has determined that jurisdiction does not reach activity occurring on the pristine seabed of the OCS where there is no installation or device attached to the seabed, and thus for Jones Act purposes no coastwise point exists. CBP considers the location for monopile installation to be a pristine site prior to the installation of the monopile. CBP notes, however, that upon the installation of the monopiles at each location, each monopile would then be considered a coastwise point, at which no other merchandise, if laden at another coastwise point, could be unladen other than by a coastwise-qualified vessel.

Ruling Date: July 17, 2023