---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 57106"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "57106"
heading: "Maintenance, improvement, and operation of vessels"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/57106"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Merchant Marine"
  - "Part F — Government-Owned Merchant Vessels"
  - "Chapter 571 — General Authority"
---

# §57106. Maintenance, improvement, and operation of vessels

- (a) **In General.—** The [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) of Transportation may maintain, repair, recondition, remodel, and improve [vessels](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) owned by the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) Government and in the possession or under the control of the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8), to equip them adequately for competition in the foreign trade of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10). The [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) may operate such a [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) or charter the [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) on terms and conditions the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) considers appropriate to carry out the purposes of this subtitle.
- (b) **Documentation and Restrictions on Operation.—** A [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) reconditioned, remodeled, or improved under [subsection (a)](#a) shall be documented under the laws of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) and remain so documented for at least 5 years after completion of the [reconditioning](/usc/46/53701.md?p=3), remodeling, or improvement. During that period, it shall be operated on voyages that are not exclusively coastwise.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(c), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1661.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 57106 | 46 App.:871. | June 5, 1920, ch. 250, § 12, 41 Stat. 993; June 6, 1924, ch. 273, § 2, 43 Stat. 468; Feb. 11, 1927, ch. 104, § 1 (last par. under heading “United States Shipping Board”), 44 Stat. 1083; Exec. Order No. 6166, § 12, eff. June 10, 1933; June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title II, § 204, title IX, § 904, 49 Stat. 1987, 2016; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(43), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 157. |
|  | 46 App.:891b. | May 22, 1928, ch. 675, title II, § 202, 45 Stat. 690; Exec. Order No. 6166, § 12, eff. June 10, 1933; June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title II, § 204, title IX, § 904, 49 Stat. 1987, 2016; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(51), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 157. |

This section is substituted for the source provisions to eliminate obsolete and unnecessary provisions.