46 U.S.C. § 57505 — Employment of vessels on foreign trade routes

(a) In General. The Secretary of Transportation must arrange for the Department's vessels to run steamship lines on foreign trade routes — routes serving only the foreign trade of the United States — that the Secretary decides are essential for developing and keeping up U.S. commerce and national defense. Before doing this, the Secretary must first find that existing steamship lines, privately owned and operated by U.S. citizens and documented under U.S. law, are not already adequately serving those routes.

(b) Policy To Encourage Private Operation. The Secretary must follow a policy of encouraging private operation of every essential steamship line the government currently owns. The Secretary does this by: (1) selling the line to a U.S. citizen; or (2) chartering the Secretary's vessels on a bareboat charter to U.S. citizens who agree to keep running the line the way this chapter requires.