---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 55106"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "55106"
heading: "Merchandise transferred between barges"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/55106"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Merchant Marine"
  - "Part D — Promotional Programs"
  - "Chapter 551 — Coastwise Trade"
---

# §55106. Merchandise transferred between barges

- (a) **In General.—** On terms and conditions the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) of Homeland Security may prescribe by regulation, the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) may suspend the application of [section 55102 of this title](/usc/46/55102.md) to the transportation of merchandise that is transferred, when moving in the foreign trade of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10), from a barge certified by the owner or operator as designed specifically for carriage on a [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) and carried regularly on a [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) in foreign trade, to another such barge owned or leased by the same owner or operator. However, this subsection does not apply to transportation between the continental [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) and noncontiguous States, territories, or possessions to which the coastwise laws apply.
- (b) **Reciprocity Requirement for Foreign Vessels.—** This section applies to a [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) of foreign registry only if the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) of Homeland Security finds, based on information from the Secretary of State, that the government of the nation of registry extends reciprocal privileges to [vessels](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(c), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1635.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 55106 | 46 App.:883 (7th proviso). | June 5, 1920, ch. 250, § 27 (7th proviso), 41 Stat. 999; July 2, 1935, ch. 355, 49 Stat. 442; Pub. L. 92–163, § 1, Nov. 23, 1971, 85 Stat. 486. |

In subsection (a), the words “non-self-propelled” are omitted as unnecessary because of the definition of “barge” in chapter 1 of the revised title. The words “between points in the United States” and “without regard to whether any such barge is under foreign registry or qualified to engage in the coastwise trade” are omitted as surplus.