---
type: "LegalText"
title: "46 U.S.C. § 57109"
description: "Operation of vessels purchased, chartered, or leased from Secretary of Transportation"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 46
title_name: "SHIPPING"
chapter_number: "571"
chapter_name: "GENERAL AUTHORITY"
section: "57109"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 57109"
status: "current"
release_point: "119-100"
release_date: "2026-06-26"
source: "official"
source_url: "https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc46@119-100.zip"
source_identifier: "/us/usc/t46/s57109"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-46/usc46.xml"
source_hash: "f239a63bb434c86609e4f0e23e557e3239a7198a739f90c17610d883b3d9b302"
raw_snapshot_hash: "eb1331aa3c08ed87231a3606d86b30d1b5942cdf8542f6a3df8ac1d66e86057f"
text_hash: "d479655a428eafb0a802c7da05231f3695d1ecb504cf2a9aae26aa712cbd9722"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 46 U.S.C. § 57109 - Operation of vessels purchased, chartered, or leased from Secretary of Transportation

## Text

Unless otherwise authorized by the Secretary of Transportation, a vessel purchased, chartered, or leased from the Secretary may be operated only under a certificate of documentation with a registry or coastwise endorsement. Such a vessel, while employed solely as a merchant vessel, is subject to the laws, regulations, and liabilities governing merchant vessels, whether the United States Government has an interest in the vessel as an owner or holds a mortgage, lien, or other interest.

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

## Notes

Historical and Revision Notes RevisedSectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 5710946 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.