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Pennsylvania Statutes Title 55 P.S. Navigation § 172. Compulsory pilotage; vessels engaged in foreign trade; penalties

Current as of January 01, 2025 | Updated by Findlaw Staff

(a) Except vessels of less than one hundred gross tons, every foreign vessel and every vessel engaged in foreign commerce or trade entering, departing or underway upon the Delaware Bay or River and their navigable tributaries, including the C. & D. Canal, and such other waters designated pilot waters by the Navigation Commission shall be obliged to receive and employ a pilot licensed by this Commonwealth or the State of Delaware.

(b) As used in this section, a vessel engaged in foreign trade shall be defined as a vessel carrying any cargo loaded in a foreign port or destined for a foreign port, as well as any vessel in ballast, having discharged its cargo of foreign origin, unless the vessel has specific orders to a port in the United States at which it is to load cargo. Orders to a vessel to proceed to Delaware Bay, to sea or any other place for orders or instructions shall not be deemed such specific orders.

(c) If a vessel refuses or neglects to take and employ a pilot, the vessel, its master, owner, operator, charterer, consignee or agent shall:

(1) forfeit and pay to a pilot suing for same a sum equal to the pilotage of the vessel, recoverable by an action in the courts of this Commonwealth, or the pilot may pursue his remedy by filing an action in admiralty in a United States court, either in personam or in rem, to enforce the lien given him on the vessel as the pilot may see fit and proper to do;

(2) be liable, in an administrative proceeding before the Navigation Commission, to pay a civil penalty of up to twenty-five thousand dollars which penalty shall be payable one-half to the Commonwealth and one-half to the Society for the Relief of Distressed and Decayed Pilots, their Widows and Children; and

(3) be liable to the pilot for all costs and attorney fees incurred in bringing the action.

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Cite this article: FindLaw.com - Pennsylvania Statutes Title 55 P.S. Navigation § 172. Compulsory pilotage; vessels engaged in foreign trade; penalties - last updated January 01, 2025 | https://codes.findlaw.com/pa/title-55-ps-navigation/pa-st-sect-55-172/

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