Measurement and Tonnage Laws
Measurement of vessels: On May 6, 1864, an act was passed by Congress practically adopting the gross tonnage measurement system established in Great Britain by the merchant shipping act of 1854. The act of 1864 was amended by the act of February 28, 1865, which provided (Rev. Stat. 4151) that no part of any vessel used for cabins or staterooms and constructed entirely above the first deck which was not a deck to the hull, should be required to be measured or registered for tonnage. This amendment was drafted particularly for coastwise, lake and river steamers, but it was also applied to ocean steamers.
Tonnage Statutes
According to the interpretation made by the United States Customs Regulations of 1908 (Articles 71-87) this amendment “was designed merely to exclude cabins and staterooms above the promenade deck of the steamers of the seacoast and lakes, or above a boiler deck as used on the western rivers. It does not have the effect of exempting from admeasurement any closed-in place even if so situated, if used for cargo and stores.”
The act of 1864 provided only for the ascertainment of gross tonnage, and until 1882 this formed the basis upon which tonnage taxes and ship charges were levied at American ports. In 1882 the United States measurement act adopted what was called the Danube rule which, in the case of most ships, made a smaller allowance for propelling power, including fuel, than did the British act.
The act of 1882 was superseded by the Frye Measurement Act of March 2, 1905, which adopted for the United States the British rules for measuring propelling power, and which in other respects brought our measurement laws into accord with prevalent maritime practice. On February 6, 1909, another act dealing with tonnage was passed.
Under present United States laws, regulations and interpretations, the tonnage basis for charges on an American ship does not exceed that on a foreign ship, and in some cases is materially less.
Rules of Measurement
The United States gross tonnage rules include in the measurement the entire space under the tonnage deck and between the tonnage and upper decks; the space occupied by hatchways in excess of one-half of one per cent, of the vessel's gross tonnage exclusive of the hatchway tonnage; and any permanent closed-in space on the upper deck available for cargo or stores or for the berthing or accommodation of passengers or crew. Under the law of 1865, however, as has been stated, certain passenger decks are not subject to gross tonnage measurements.
Nine different spaces are exempt from gross tonnage measurement. They are:
- Double-bottom water-ballast spaces not available for stores, or hull, and the spaces between the frames and the floor beams.
- Spaces under the shelter deck and in the poop, forecastle, and bridge, when not permanently closed in.
- Passenger accommodations in tiers of superstructures over the first tier above the upper deck.
- Hatchways up to one-half of one per cent, of the vessel's gross tonnage.
- Galleys, bakeries, toilets, and bathhouses above deck.
- Spaces above deck occupied by ship’s machinery or for the working of the vessel.
- Light, air and funnel space over the engine and boiler room and above the upper deck or the shelter deck.
- Domes and skylights, companion ways (except portions used as smoking room) and ladders and stairways in exempted places.
- Open spaces occupied by deck loads.
American Tonnage Rates
Tonnage Duties: These are a general charge or tax on shipping and are closely related to the measurement of vessels. Practically all countries levy them.
In the United States (Rev. Stats. 427, amended by sec. 36, act of August 5, 1909), a tonnage tax at the rate of two or six cents for each net ton is levied upon every vessel engaged in trade upon arrival by sea from a foreign port. Vessels in distress are exempted.
The two cent a ton rate applies to all vessels arriving from any foreign port in North America, Newfoundland, Central America, the West Indies, the Bahamas and Bermuda, or the coast of South America bordering on the Caribbean Sea.
The six-cent a ton covers all vessels arriving from any other foreign port. The tonnage duty is not levied on more than five entries at the same rate during any one year, the tonnage year beginning with the date of the first payment and ending on the day preceding the corresponding day in the following year.
United States tonnage rates are about the same as the light dues imposed in Great Britain and are considerably lower than those levied in the ports of Continental Europe and elsewhere. There are various exemptions made by United States laws from the payment of tonnage duties. These largely affect the fisheries and the Great Lakes vessels.
Bankers Trust Company, “Chapter XXIII: Measurement and Tonnage Laws,” in America’s Merchant Marine: A Presentation of Its History and Development to Date with Chapters on Related Subjects, New York: Bankers Trust Company, 1920, pp. 183-185.
