If you are one of the estimated fifteen million people in America lucky enough to own one, you must be aware of the many restrictions and regulations you have to adhere to along the way. One of the issues you have to resolve, to name one, is the use you will give to your vessel. Given that commercial vessel with a net weight that exceeds five tons need to be documented with the US Coast Guard, they need to have been built in the United States. As you can imagine, this is not always the case, so they created a series of exceptions to the rule to help foreign vessels to still be able to trade. One of them is the Small Vessel Marad Waiver, and you will learn more about it in this article.
Facts and Considerations About the Marad Waiver
There are, as you can imagine, some requirements that will decide if your boat has access or not to the Marad Waiver. To be eligible for the program, the boat needs to be older than three years. At no point, the boat will be able to transport more than twelve people while operating commercially, and the only use you will be allowed to use your vessel for is for the transport of passengers. In addition to that, the person applying for the waiver will have to be a United States citizen.
To be able to apply for the waiver, you will need to fill out the corresponding application and support the documents needed for the request. Make sure that your vessel complies with the requirements as the deposit can not be refunded. Some common denials and exceptions include but are not limited to:
- The vessel owner needs to specify all states in which the boat will operate. There is no waiver for the whole coast.
- In a few specific areas, American owners have proven to the Coast Guard that foreign-built vessels would cause an adverse effect on domestic commerce. As a result, the Marad Waiver is not provided in those areas.
- Activities such as cargo, towing, or dredging are not accepted for the waiver. Sportfishing is as long as the caught fish is not sold.
Steps to Follow for Your Waiver
There are some steps you need to follow to apply for the Marad waiver. The first step you need to take is obviously submitting an application. This can be done online or by traditional email. After some time, the Maritime Administration (Marad) will publish a public notice in the Federal Register. During the period in which the public notice is published, Marad will determine if the waiver would be causing a negative impact on locally built vessels.
If there is no negative impact anticipated, the waiver will be issued. Most of the requests are usually approved. Once the waiver has been accepted, it becomes part of the vessel’s documentation and will stay with it even if it is sold.
Applying for the Marad Waiver Easily
You don’t have to necessarily take care of the Marad Waiver processing by yourself. In fact, the Maritime Documentation Center can do it for you. We are a private service that processes any type of boating documentation. For us to do it on your behalf you only need to fill out the form from the list of applications on the left side of our site. This way, you will be able to get it online and make sure that no mistakes are made, as our experienced staff processes it for you. Contact us today for more information.