---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 58103"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "58103"
heading: "Employing another person as managing or operating agent"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/58103"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Merchant Marine"
  - "Part G — Restrictions and Penalties"
  - "Chapter 581 — Restrictions and Penalties"
---

# §58103. Employing another person as managing or operating agent

- (a) **Prohibition.—** Except with the written consent of the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) of Transportation, a [contractor](/usc/46/53101.md?p=2) holding a contract under the operating-differential subsidy program or under [chapter 575](/usc/46/chstV/ptF/ch575.md) of this title may not—
  - (1) employ another [person](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6) as the managing or operating agent of the operator; or
  - (2) charter a [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9), on which an operating-differential subsidy is to be paid, for operation by another [person](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6).
- (b) **Applicability of Provisions to Charterer.—** If a charter prohibited by this section is made, the [person](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6) operating the chartered [vessel](/usc/46/53501.md?p=9) is subject to all the provisions of this subtitle and the operating-differential subsidy program, including limitations of profits and salaries.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(c), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1671.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 58103 | 46 App.:1223(d). | June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title VIII, § 805(d), 49 Stat. 2013; June 23, 1938, ch. 600, §§ 36, 37, 52 Stat. 963; Pub. L. 91–603, § 4(e), Dec. 31, 1970, 84 Stat. 1675; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(122), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 164; Pub. L. 104–239, § 4(b)(2), Oct. 8, 1996, 110 Stat. 3131. |

In subsection (a), the words “contractor holding a contract under the operating-differential subsidy program or under chapter 575 of this title” are substituted for “contractor holding a contract authorized under part A of subchapter VI or VII of this chapter” for the reasons explained under section 58101.