---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 50101"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "50101"
heading: "Objectives and policy"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/50101"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Merchant Marine"
  - "Part A — General"
  - "Chapter 501 — Policy, Studies, and Reports"
---

# §50101. Objectives and policy

- (a) **Objectives.—** It is necessary for the national defense and the development of the domestic and [foreign commerce](/usc/46/53101.md?p=4) of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) that the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) have a merchant marine—
  - (1) sufficient to carry the waterborne domestic commerce and a substantial part of the waterborne export and import [foreign commerce](/usc/46/53101.md?p=4) of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) and to provide shipping service essential for maintaining the flow of the waterborne domestic and [foreign commerce](/usc/46/53101.md?p=4) at all times;
  - (2) capable of serving as a naval and military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency;
  - (3) owned and operated as [vessels](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) by citizens of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10);
  - (4) composed of the best-equipped, safest, and most suitable types of [vessels](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) constructed in the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) and manned with a trained and efficient citizen personnel; and
  - (5) supplemented by efficient facilities for building and repairing [vessels](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9).
- (b) **Policy.—** It is the policy of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) to encourage and aid the development and maintenance of a merchant marine satisfying the objectives described in [subsection (a)](#a).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(b), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1556; Pub. L. 111–84, div. C, title XXXV, § 3511, Oct. 28, 2009, 123 Stat. 2722.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 50101 | 46 App.:861. | June 5, 1920, ch. 250, § 1, 41 Stat. 988; Exec. Order No. 6166, June 10, 1933, § 12; June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title II, § 204, title IX, § 904, 49 Stat. 1987, 2016; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(33), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 156. |
|  | 46 App.:891. | May 22, 1928, ch. 675, § 1, 45 Stat. 689. |
|  | 46 App.:1101. | June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title I, § 101, 49 Stat. 1985; Pub. L. 91–469, § 1, Oct. 21, 1970, 84 Stat. 1018. |

This section consolidates the source provisions to eliminate repetition.

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2009—Subsec. (a)(4). Pub. L. 111–84 inserted “constructed in the United States” after “vessels”.