---
type: "LegalText"
title: "46 U.S.C. § 58103"
description: "Employing another person as managing or operating agent"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 46
title_name: "SHIPPING"
chapter_number: "581"
chapter_name: "RESTRICTIONS AND PENALTIES"
section: "58103"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 58103"
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/s58103"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-46/usc46.xml"
source_hash: "15443b789bffac4a343dce5c116211e8a03293cb8a65c269746b82dc36c060d3"
raw_snapshot_hash: "eb1331aa3c08ed87231a3606d86b30d1b5942cdf8542f6a3df8ac1d66e86057f"
text_hash: "f5c5d1738cdb07d1f0515730d6970440011555269687857b17cac88570d50738"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 46 U.S.C. § 58103 - Employing another person as managing or operating agent

## Text

(a) Prohibition.— Except with the written consent of the Secretary of Transportation, a contractor holding a contract under the operating-differential subsidy program or under chapter 575 of this title may not—

(1) employ another person as the managing or operating agent of the operator; or

(2) charter a vessel, on which an operating-differential subsidy is to be paid, for operation by another person.

(b) Applicability of Provisions to Charterer.— If a charter prohibited by this section is made, the person operating the chartered vessel is subject to all the provisions of this subtitle and the operating-differential subsidy program, including limitations of profits and salaries.

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

## Notes

Historical and Revision Notes RevisedSectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 5810346 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.