HQ 111812: Vessel Repair; Casualty; Heavy Weather; PRESIDENT ADAMS; Entry No. C27-0189100-7; 19 U.S.C. 1466; 19 C.F.R. 4.14(d)(1)(iii); 19 C.F.R. 4.14(c)(3)(i).

Native CBP ruling rendition. Applicability is fact-specific; modification/revocation relationships and original publisher date are retained. Publisher sentinel year0001 means unknown date, not a historical legal adoption.

                            HQ 111812

                         August 6, 1991

VES-13-18   CO:R:IT:C  111812  JBW

CATEGORY:   Carriers

Chief, Technical Branch
Commercial Operations
Pacific Region
1 World Trade Center
Long Beach, CA 90831

RE:  Vessel Repair; Casualty; Heavy Weather; PRESIDENT ADAMS;
     Entry No. C27-0189100-7; 19 U.S.C. 1466; 19 C.F.R.
     4.14(d)(1)(iii); 19 C.F.R. 4.14(c)(3)(i).

Dear Sir:

     This letter is in response to your memorandum of March 19,
1991, which forwards for our review the application for relief
filed in conjunction with the above-referenced vessel repair
entry.

FACTS:

     The record reflects that the subject vessel, the PRESIDENT
ADAMS, arrived at the port of San Pedro, California, on January
26, 1991.  Vessel repair entry, number C27-0189100-7, was filed
on the same day as arrival.

     The applicant seeks relief for the costs reflected in the
following two shipyard invoices:

     Trimble Navigation (Japan) Ltd:  Repairs were made to the
     satellite navigation antenna.  The ships log shows that on
     December 12, 1990, while en route from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to
     San Pedro, California, the vessel encountered a "rough
     monsoon sea."  Winds were noted in the log at force 8.  The
     damage report for the antenna stated that winds were blowing
     at seventy-five miles per hour, with thirty foot seas.  The
     log further indicates that, among other items, the vessel's
     navigation system alarm sounded, but that it was found in
     working order.  Finally, the damage report states that on
     the above date, the satellite navigation antenna was found
     fallen over.  The crew attempted to straighten the antenna,
     but the antenna would not received signals until final
     repairs were made in Yokohama, Japan, on the following
     voyage.

     Anschuetz Japan Co., Ltd.:  Repairs were made to the
     steering amplifier transformers of the automatic steering
     mechanism.  The log shows that the vessel experienced
     steering failure approximately three hours after leaving the
     San Francisco pilot.  The vessel returned to the port for
     "temporary repairs."  Permanent repairs were made in
     Yokohama.  The damage report indicates that, at the time the
     steering failure was noticed, the wind was blowing at thirty
     miles per hour and that seas were at ten feet.


ISSUES:

     (1)  Whether the evidence submitted demonstrates that the
repairs performed to the ship's satellite navigation antenna were
necessitated by stress of weather and were necessary to secure
the safety and seaworthiness of the vessel.

     (2)  Whether duties paid on foreign repairs made to the
ship's automatic steering mechanism are remissible as a casualty
under 19 U.S.C. 1466.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Title 19, United States Code, section 1466, provides in
pertinent part for payment of duty in the amount of 50 percent ad
valorem on the cost of foreign repairs to vessels documented
under the laws of the United States to engage in foreign or
coastwise trade, or vessels intended to engage in such trade.
The statute provides for the remission of the above duties in
those instances where good and sufficient evidence is furnished
to show that foreign repairs were compelled by "stress of weather
or other casualty" and were necessary to secure the safety and
seaworthiness of the vessel to enable her to reach her port of
destination.  19 U.S.C. 1466(d)(1).

     The Customs Service has held that repairs required by stress
of weather must be made on the same voyage that the damage
occurred.  C.I.E. 1325/58, dated September 18, 1958.  In the
instant case, damages to the satellite navigation antenna were
discovered while the vessel was en route from Kaohsiung, Taiwan,
to San Pedro, California.  Final repairs, however, were not made
until the vessel called at Yokohama, Japan, on its next voyage.
Thus, regardless of the evidence submitted to demonstrate that
heavy weather caused damage to the antenna, we find that the
costs for foreign repairs to the satellite navigation antenna are
dutiable.

     With regard to the repairs made to the automatic steering
mechanism, we find no grounds for remission of duties.  The
applicant presents no explanation for the cause of the steering
failure.  We thus may not infer that the damages resulted from
stress of weather.  Furthermore, the Customs Service has
recognized as a remissible "casualty":

          a part's failure to function if satisfactory
          evidence shows that the specific part was
          repaired or serviced immediately before
          starting the voyage from the United States
          port and that the part failed to function
          within six months of such repair or
          servicing.

19 C.F.R. 4.14(c)(3)(i) (1990).  In the instant case, the part
failed within three hours of the departure of the ship from San
Francisco harbor.  The ship returned for what were acknowledged
to be "temporary repairs."  No further evidence was submitted to
demonstrate the extent of the repairs made in the United States.
This regulation does not contemplate, however, that those repairs
made in the United States would be only minimal, temporary
repairs to permit the vessel to travel to a foreign shipyard for
final repairs.  We thus find the evidence insufficient to support
a claim that the foreign repairs were required to remedy failed
repairs made in the United States.

HOLDINGS:

     (1)  Foreign repairs made to the satellite navigation
antenna, having been made on a voyage subsequent to the voyage in
which claimed heavy weather damages occurred, are dutiable under
19 U.S.C. 1466.

     (2)  Permanent repairs made in a foreign shipyard to the
automatic steering mechanism, which failed only three hours out
of the United States and required the vessel to return to the
United States for temporary repairs, are dutiable.


                              Sincerely,



                              B. James Fritz
                              Chief
                              Carrier Rulings Branch