---
type: "LegalText"
title: "46 U.S.C. § 60309"
description: "Passenger vessels making trips between ports of the United States and foreign ports"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 46
title_name: "SHIPPING"
chapter_number: "603"
chapter_name: "TONNAGE TAXES AND LIGHT MONEY"
section: "60309"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 60309"
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/s60309"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-46/usc46.xml"
source_hash: "2af90cf3a304503c08ff7629f1f8d17826933d3e7f28bfb121d808c04a05f926"
raw_snapshot_hash: "eb1331aa3c08ed87231a3606d86b30d1b5942cdf8542f6a3df8ac1d66e86057f"
text_hash: "4e054c2015f75aa21786f50f017bd2ae6a0799cff9dd41b124977ed1e7058948"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 46 U.S.C. § 60309 - Passenger vessels making trips between ports of the United States and foreign ports

## Text

A passenger vessel making at least 3 trips per week between a port of the United States and a foreign port is exempt from tonnage taxes and light money.

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 9(b), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1679.)

## Notes

Historical and Revision Notes RevisedSectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 6030946 App.:124.R.S. § 2792; May 28, 1908, ch. 212, § 1, 35 Stat. 424. The words “at least 3 trips per week” are substituted for “triweekly or oftener” for clarity. The words “and light money” are added for clarity and consistency. See 19 C.F.R. § 4.21 (2003). The words “while such service triweekly or oftener is maintained” are omitted as unnecessary.