79TH CONG. , 2D SESS.-CH. 82-MAR. 8, 1946 [CHAPTER 82] AN ACT March 8, 194 To provide for the sale of surplus war-built vessels, and for other purposes. [Public Law3603] [Public Law 321] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946". DECLARATION OF POLICY SEC. 2 . (a) It is necessary for the national security and develop- ment and maintenance of the domestic and the export and import foreign commerce of the United States that the United States have an efficient and adequate American-owned merchant marine (1) sufficient to carry its domestic water-borne commerce and a substantial portion of its water-borne export and import foreign commerce and to provide shipping service on all routes essential for maintaining the flow of such domestic and foreign water-borne commerce at all times; (2) capable of serving as a naval and military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency; (3) owned and operated under the United States flag by citizens of the United States; (4) composed of the best-equipped, safest, and most suitable types of vessels, constructed in the United States and manned with a trained and efficient citizen personnel; and (5) supplemented by efficient American-owned facilities for shipbuild- ing and ship repair, marine insurance, and other auxiliary services. (b) It is hereby declared to be the policy of this Act to foster the development and encourage the maintenance of such a merchant marine. DEFINITIONS SEC. 3. As used in this Act the term- (a) "Commission" means the United States Maritime Commission. (b) "War-built vessel" means an oceangoing vessel of one thousand five hundred gross tons or more, owned by the United States and suitable for commercial use- (1) which was constructed or contracted for by or for the account of the United States during the period, beginning January 1, 1941, and ending with September 2,1945; or (2) which, having been constructed during the period beginning September 3, 1939, and ending with September 2, 1945, was acquired by the United States during such period. (c) Prewar domestic cost", as applied to any type of vessel, means the amount determined by the Commission, and published by the Com- mission in the Federal Register, to be the amount for which a standard vessel of such type could have been constructed (without its national defense features) in the United States under normal conditions relat- ing to labor, materials, and other elements of cost, obtaining on or about January 1, 1941. In no case shall the prewar domestic cost of any type of vessel be considered to be greater than 80 per centum of the domestic war cost of vessels of the same type. (d) "Statutory sales price", as applied to a particular vessel, means. in the case of a dry-cargo vessel, an amount equal to 50 per centum of the prewar domestic cost of that type of vessel, and in the case of a tanker, such term means an amount equal to 87/2 per centum of the prewar domestic cost of a tanker of that type, such amount in each case being adjusted as follows: (1) If the Commission is of the opinion that the vessel is not in class, there shall be subtracted the amount estimated by the Commission as the cost of putting the vessel in class. (2) If the Commission is of the opinion that the vessel lacks Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946. "Commission." "War-built vessel." "Prewar domestic coat." Limitation. "Statutory sales price." 60 STAT. ] 41
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