---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 57308"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "57308"
heading: "Use of vessels at least 25 years old"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/57308"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Merchant Marine"
  - "Part F — Government-Owned Merchant Vessels"
  - "Chapter 573 — Vessel Trade-In Program"
---

# §57308. Use of vessels at least 25 years old


An [obsolete vessel](/usc/46/57301.md?p=2) acquired under this chapter that is or becomes at least 25 years old may not be used for commercial operation. However, the [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) may be used—

- (1) during a period in which [vessels](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) may be requisitioned under [chapter 563](/usc/46/chstV/ptE/ch563.md) of this title; or
- (2) except as otherwise provided in this subtitle, on trade routes serving only the foreign trade of the [United States](/usc/46/53101.md?p=10).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(c), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1664.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 57308 | 46 App.:1160(g). | June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title V, § 510(g), as added Aug. 4, 1939, ch. 417, § 7, 53 Stat. 1185; Pub. L. 86–518, § 1, June 12, 1960, 74 Stat. 216; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(91), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 161. |

The words “and vessels presently in the Secretary’s laid-up fleet which are or become twenty-five years old or more” and “or any such vessel in the laid-up fleet” are omitted as obsolete. In paragraph (2), the words “for the employment of the Secretary’s vessels in steamship lines” are omitted as unnecessary.