---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 53303"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "53303"
heading: "Persons eligible to establish funds"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/53303"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Merchant Marine"
  - "Part C — Financial Assistance Programs"
  - "Chapter 533 — Construction Reserve Funds"
---

# §53303. Persons eligible to establish funds


A [construction](/usc/46/53701.md?p=3) reserve fund may be established by a citizen of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) that—

- (1) is operating a [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) in the foreign or domestic commerce of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) or in the fisheries;
- (2) owns, in whole or in part, a [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) being operated in the foreign or domestic commerce of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) or in the fisheries;
- (3) was operating a [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) in the foreign or domestic commerce of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) or in the fisheries when it was bought or requisitioned by the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) Government;
- (4) owned, in whole or in part, a [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) being operated in the foreign or domestic commerce of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) or in the fisheries when it was bought or requisitioned by the Government; or
- (5) had acquired or was having constructed a [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) to operate in the foreign or domestic commerce of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) or in the fisheries when it was bought or requisitioned by the Government.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(c), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1587.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 53303 | 46 App.:1161(b) (1st sentence words between 6th and 10th commas). | June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title V, § 511(b) (1st sentence words between 6th and 10th commas), as added Oct. 10, 1940, ch. 849, 54 Stat. 1106; June 17, 1943, ch. 130, subdiv. (a), 57 Stat. 157; July 17, 1952, ch. 939, § 9, 66 Stat. 762. |