---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 57109"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "57109"
heading: "Operation of vessels purchased, chartered, or leased from Secretary of Transportation"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/57109"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Merchant Marine"
  - "Part F — Government-Owned Merchant Vessels"
  - "Chapter 571 — General Authority"
---

# §57109. Operation of vessels purchased, chartered, or leased from Secretary of Transportation


Unless otherwise authorized by the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) of Transportation, a [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) purchased, chartered, or leased from the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) may be operated only under a certificate of documentation with a registry or coastwise endorsement. Such a [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9), while employed solely as a merchant [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9), is subject to the laws, regulations, and liabilities governing merchant [vessels](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9), whether the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10) Government has an interest in the [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) as an owner or holds a [mortgage](/usc/46/53701.md?p=8), lien, or other interest.


## 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) |
| 57109 | 46 App.:808(b). | Sept. 7, 1916, ch. 451, § 9(b), 39 Stat. 730; July 15, 1918, ch. 152, § 3, 40 Stat. 900; restated June 5, 1920, ch. 250, § 18, 41 Stat. 994; Ex. Ord. 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(26), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 155; Pub. L. 100–710, title I, § 104(b)(2), Nov. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 4750. |

The words “only under a certificate of documentation with a registry or coastwise endorsement” are substituted for “only under such registry or enrollment and license” for clarity and to use the appropriate current language.