SEC. 213. The Commission shall make studies of and make reports to Congress on (a) The scrapping or removal from service of old or obsolete merchant tonnage owned by the United States or in use in the merchant marine; [§ 214(c)] 46 U.S.C. 1123. 49 Stat. 1991. Report to Con gress on scrapsels, tramp ping old ves shipping service, and relative construction and (b) Tramp shipping service and the advisability of citizens of the United States participating in such service reconditioning with vessels under United States registry. cost. (c) The relative cost of construction or reconditioning P.L. 87-877. of comparable ocean vessels in shipyards in the various 76 Stat. 1200. coastal districts of the United States, together with recommendations as to how such shipyards may compete for work on an equalized basis; reports under this paragraph shall be made annually on the first day of July of each year. 52 Subpena of wittion of books, administration of oaths, taking of evidence. nesses, produc SEC. 214. (a) For the purpose of any investigation 46 U.S.C. 1124. which, in the opinion of the Commission, is necessary and 12 Stat. 1991. proper in carrying out the provisions of this Act, any member of the Commission, or any officer or employee thereof designated by it, is empowered to subpena witnesses, administer oaths and affirmations, take evidence, and require the production of any books, papers, or other documents which are relevant or material to the matter under investigation. Such attendance of witnesses and the production of such books, papers, or other documents may be required from any place in the United States or any Territory, district, or possession thereof at any designated place of hearing. Witnesses summoned before the Commission shall be paid the same fees and mileage that witness fees. are paid witnesses in the Courts of the United States. (6) Upon failure of any person to obey a subpena Disobedience— issued by the Commission, it may invoke the aid of subpena. any District Court of the United States within the jurisdiction in which such person resides or carries on business in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books, papers, or other documents. Any such court may issue an order requiring such person to appear before the Commission, or member, officer, or employee designated by the Commission, there to produce books, papers, or any other documents, if so ordered, or to give testimony touching the matter under investigation or in question. Any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof. Any process in any such case may be served in the judicial district wherein such person resides or wherever he may be found. incriminatory evidence. (c) No person shall be excused from attending and Giving of selftestifying or from producing books, papers, or other documents before the Commission, or any member or officer 59-075.0-663 [§ 214(c)] or employees thereof, in any investigation instituted by the Commission under this Act, on the ground that the testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of him may tend to incriminate him or subject him to penalty or forfeiture; but no person shall be No prosecution prosecuted or subject to any penalty or forfeiture for or excepted. Perjury excepted 46 U.S.C. 1125. 52 Stat. 954. 74 Stat. 216. P.L. 86-518. Authority to purchase vessels. Price fair and reasonable valuation. on account of any transaction, matter, or thing concerning which he is compelled, after having claimed his privilege against self-incrimination, to testify or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, except that such person so testifying shall not be exempt from prosecution and punishment for perjury committed in so testifying. SEC. 215. The Commission is authorized to acquire by purchase or otherwise such vessels constructed in the United States as it may deem necessary to establish, maintain, improve, or effect replacements upon any service, route, or line in the foreign commerce of the United States determined to be essential under section 211 of this Act, and to pay for the same out of its construction fund: Provided, That the price paid therefor shall be based upon a fair and reasonable valuation, but it shall not exceed by more than 5 per centum the cost of such vessel to the owner (excluding any construction-differential subsidy and the cost of national defense features paid by the Commission) plus the actual cost previously expended thereon for reconditioning less depreciation based upon a twenty-five-year life expectancy of the vessel. No such vessel shall be acquired by the Commis 3 3 The Act of June 12, 1960 (74 Stat. 216, Public Law 86-518) as amended by the Act of December 23, 1963 (77 Stat. 469, Public Law 88-225) generally extended the statutory life of vessels to 25 years, and provided for this period's application to certain vessels and contracts existing on that date. However, the Act retained a 20 year statutory life for tankers and other liquid bulk carriers and for vessels delivered prior to January 1, 1946. With respect to vessels delivered by the shipbuilder prior to January 1, 1960, section 8 of this amendatory Act must be consulted for its exact application. Section 8 of this amendatory Act reads as follows: "SEC. 8. (a) The amendments made by this Act shall apply only to Vessels delivered by the shipbuilder on or after January 1, 1946, and with respect to such vessels shall become effective on January 1, 1960. With respect to vessels delivered by the shipbuilder before January 1, 1946, the provisions of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, existing immediately before the date of enactment of this Act shall continue in effect. "(b) With respect to vessels delivered by the shipbuilder on or after January 1, 1946, and before January 1, 1960, depreciation under sections 215, 502(g), 507, 510(d), 607 (b), 611(c), 705, 714, and 1107(4) of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, shall be taken (unless a contract which is in effect on January 1, 1960, otherwise provides) for the period prior to January 1, 1960, at the rate provided by the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, as it existed immediately prior to the amendments made by this Act, and for the period after January 1, 1960, such depreciation shall be taken on the basis of the remaining years of a useful life of twenty-five years unless the vessel is reconstructed or reconditioned in which event such depreciation, from the time of such reconstruction or reconditioning, shall be taken on the basis of the remaining years of a useful life of the vessel determined jointly by the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of the Treasury. "(c) Any contract (including but not limited to mortgage insurance contracts) commitment to insure a mortgage under title XI of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, or mortgage, between any person and the [§ 216(a)] conversion. sion unless the Secretary of the Navy has certified to the Commission that such vessel is suitable for economical Suitable for and speedy conversion into a naval or military auxiliary, or otherwise suitable for the use of the United States in time of war or national emergency. Every vessel acquired under authority of this section that is not documented under the laws of the United States at the time of its acquisition shall be so documented as soon as practicable. Documentation. See appendix III. 46 U.S.C. 11. Marine U.S. Merchant Staff, status. 75 Stat. 212, P.L. 87-93. SEC. 216. (a) The Secretary of Commerce is hereby authorized and directed, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, to establish and maintain the United States Maritime Service as a voluntary organization for the training of citizens of the United States to serve as licensed and unlicensed personnel on American merchant vessels. The Secretary is authorized to determine the number of persons to be enrolled for training and reserve purposes in the said Service, to fix the rates of pay and allowances of such persons, and to prescribe such courses and periods of training as, in his discretion, are necessary to maintain a trained and efficient merchant marine personnel. The ranks, grades, and ratings for personnel of the said Service shall be the same as are now or shall hereafter be prescribed for the personnel of the Coast Guard. The Secretary is authorized to prescribe, by Uniforms. rules and regulations, the uniform of the Service and rules governing the wearing and furnishing of such uniform of persons in the Service. United States or any agency thereof, or any mortgage insurance contract under title XI, which was entered into prior to the date of enactment of this Act and which would be affected if the provisions of the amendments made by this Act were applicable thereto, may, at the request of such person agreed to by any third parties in interest, or at the request of the mortgagor agreed to by the mortgagee in the case of such a mortgage insurance contract, made within one hundred and eighty days after such date of enactment to the agency of the United States holding such contract, be revised to be in accordance with the law as amended by this Act with respect to such of the vessels covered thereby as may be designated by the applicant. Any such revision shall provide with respect to the amendments to sections 215, 502 (g), 507, 510(d), 607 (b), 611(c), 705, 714, and 1107 (4) of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, that depreciation for the period prior to January 1, 1960, shall be taken at the rate provided by the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, prior to the amendments made by this Act, and that the remaining depreciation shall be taken for the period beginning January 1, 1960, on the basis of the remaining years of a useful life of twenty-five years, unless the vessel has been reconstructed or reconditioned, in which event such depreciation from the time of such reconstruction or reconditioning shall be taken on the basis of the remaining years of a useful life of the vessel determined jointly by the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of the Treasury. Any such revision shall provide with respect to any remaining unpaid debts that such unpaid debts shall be paid in equal annual installments over the remaining years of a useful life of twenty-five years. Provisions in such contracts affecting vessels covered by this Act providing for refund of constructiondifferential subsidy for domestic operations under section 506 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, and costs of national defense features for commercial use shall be amended so that for such refund payments made for the period after December 31, 1959, the base upon which such refund payments are computed annually thereafter shall be the undepreciated amount of subsidy or the national defense feature, as the case may be, as at December 31, 1959, divided by the years of life of the vessels as provided under this Act, remaining after December 31, 1959." [8216(b)(1)] Merchant Academy Merchant Training. (b) (1) The Secretary of Commerce shall maintain a Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, for the instruction and preparation for service in the merchant marine of selected persons as officers thereof. Competitive examinations shall be held annually among those persons nominated as candidates to the Academy by Senators and Representatives, and by the Governors of the Canal Zone, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands, and the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. The number of vacancies allocated to each State shall be proportioned to the Representatives in Congress from that State; but two vacancies shall be allocated each year to the Canal Zone, to be filled by qualified candidates nominated by the Governor of the Canal Zone from among the sons of residents of the Canal Zone and the sons of personnel of the United States Government and the Panama Canal Company residing in the Republic of Panama, one vacancy each shall be allocated each year to Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands, to be filled by qualified candidates nominated by the Governors of Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands, and four vacancies shall be allocated each year to the District of Columbia, to be filled by qualified candidates nominated by the Commissioners thereof: Provided, That a candidate nominated by the Governor of American Samoa shall not be denied admission by reason of his being a national but not a citizen of the United States: Provided further, That the foregoing proviso shall not be construed to permit any such person who is a national but not a citizen of the United States to be entitled to any office or position in the United States merchant marine by reason of his graduation from the Academy until such person shall have become a citizen. Appointments from each State shall be made by the Secretary of Commerce from among qualified candidates nominated from that State in the order of merit established by the examinations. In case vacancies remain after the appointments under the preceding sentence have been made, the Secretary of Commerce shall fill them by appointments from qualified candidates from other States. 4 (2) In connection with such instruction and as a part thereof, the Secretary of Commerce is authorized to provide for training of merchant marine cadets on Government-owned and subsidized vessels and, in cooperation with other governmental and private agencies, on other vessels, and, for instructional purposes only, in ship 4 See p. 246 for Public Law 87-244, 75 Stat. 514, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to nominate citizens of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands to be cadets at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. 46 U.S.C. 1126b-1. For authorization to admit 12 persons from American Republics other than the United States, see 46 U.S.C. 1126(b). yards, plants, and industrial and educational organizations under rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce and upon such terms as the Secretary of Commerce may arrange, and expenditures incident to such training are hereby authorized. etc. [§ 216(e)] (3) Cadets appointed to the United States Merchant Appointments, Marine Academy may be appointed by the Secretary of the Navy as Reserve midshipmen in the United States Navy and may be commissioned as Reserve ensigns in the United States Navy upon graduation from the Academy. (4) Cadets at the United States Merchant Marine Allowances. Academy shall receive allowances for all required uniforms and textbooks as prescribed by rules and regulations under this Act, and to transportation, including reimbursement of traveling expenses, while traveling under orders as a cadet. "Representa (5) (a) "Representative" as used in this Act shall include Delegates to the House of Representatives from tive". Alaska and Hawaii and the Resident Commissioner from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. (b) "State" as used in this Act shall include the Terri- "State". tories of Alaska and Hawaii, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands. courses. (c) The Commission is hereby authorized to prescribe, Supplementary conduct, and supervise such extension and correspond- training ence courses as it may deem necessary to supplement other training facilities, and to make such courses available, under such rules and regulations and upon. such terms as it may prescribe, to the licensed and unlicensed personnel of the merchant marine, and to cadets and cadet officers, who shall make application therefor. The Commission is further authorized to print, publish, and purchase suitable textbooks, equipment, and supplies required for such courses, and to employ persons, firms, and corporations on a contract or fee basis (without regard to the provisions of section 3709 of the Revised Statutes), for the performance of special services deemed necessary by the Commission in the preparation and editing of such textbooks and other aids to instruction, and in the supervision and administration of such courses. Use of facili agencies. (d) The Commission, with the consent of any executive department, independent establishment, or other ties of other agency of the Government, including any field service thereof, may avail itself of the use of information, services, facilities, officers, and employees thereof in carrying out the provisions of this section, as amended. (e) To effectuate the purpose of this section, the Secretary of Commerce is authorized to employ professors, 68 Stat. 954. 5 USC 1071 note. |