Coasting Trade Act

Marginal note:Prohibition

• 3 (1) No foreign ship or non-duty paid ship shall, except in accordance with a licence, engage in the coasting trade.

• Marginal note:Application

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of any foreign ship or non-duty paid ship that is

  • (a) used as a fishing vessel, as defined by the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, in any activity governed by that Act and that does not carry any goods or passengers other than goods or passengers incidental to any activity governed by that Act;

  • (b) engaged in any ocean research activity commissioned by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans;

  • (c) operated or sponsored by a foreign government that has sought and received the consent of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to conduct marine scientific research;

  • (c.1) engaged in seismic activities in waters above the continental shelf of Canada that are in relation to the exploration for mineral or non-living natural resources of the continental shelf of Canada;

  • (d) engaged in salvage operations, except where such operations are performed in Canadian waters; or

  • (e) engaged, with the approval of a person designated as a pollution response officer under section 174.1 of the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, in activities related to a marine pollution emergency, or to a risk of a marine pollution emergency.

• Marginal note:Repositioning of empty containers

  (2.1) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of carriage between one place in Canada and another, without consideration, of empty containers that are owned or leased by the ship’s owner and of any ancillary equipment that is necessary to ensure the safety, security, containment and preservation of the goods that may be carried in those containers.

• Marginal note:Dredging activities

  (2.2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of dredging activities — other than dredging activities that are provided under an agreement with Her Majesty in right of Canada or with an entity which is listed in Annex 19-1, as amended from time to time, of Chapter Nineteen of CETA — carried out by any of the following ships:

  • (a) a non-duty paid ship whose owner is a Canadian entity or an EU entity;

  • (b) a foreign ship that is registered in the first, or domestic, register of a member state of the European Union and whose owner is a Canadian entity, an EU entity or an entity that is under Canadian or European control;

  • (c) a foreign ship that is registered in a second, or international, register of a member state of the European Union and whose owner is a Canadian entity, an EU entity or an entity that is under Canadian or European control; and

  • (d) a foreign ship that is registered in a register other than the Canadian Register of Vessels or a register referred to in paragraph (b) or (c), and whose owner is a Canadian entity or an EU entity.

• Marginal note:Feeder services — continual or single trip

  (2.3) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of

  • (a) the carriage of goods by a ship that is described in paragraph (2.2)(b), from the port of Halifax — where the goods are loaded — to the port of Montreal, or vice versa, if that carriage is one leg of the importation of the goods into Canada; or

  • (b) the carriage of goods by the ship from the port of Montreal — where the goods are loaded — to the port of Halifax, or vice versa, if that carriage is one leg of the exportation of the goods from Canada.

• Marginal note:Feeder services — single trip

  (2.4) Subject to subsection (2.5), subsection (1) does not apply in respect of the carriage, by a ship that is described in paragraph (2.2)(c), of goods in a container from the port of Montreal to the port of Halifax, or vice versa, if

  • (a) that carriage is one leg of the importation of the goods into or exportation from Canada; and

  • (b) the container is at least 6.1 metres in length and has an internal volume of at least 14 cubic metres, is designed for carrying goods more than once and by one or more modes of transportation, and does not have wheels or is not otherwise built for being driven or drawn.

• Marginal note:Subsequent coasting trade subject to subsection (1)

  (2.5) Once a ship has completed a carriage of goods as described in subsection (2.4), subsection (1) applies to the ship in respect of any such subsequent carriage of goods by the ship, until it departs from the exclusive economic zone of Canada or from the inland waters, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Customs Act, at a location where the inland waters are contiguous to the United States.

• Marginal note:Provision of information

  (2.6) Before a ship engages, without a licence, in any activities referred to in subsections (2.2) to (2.4) and for which the owner of the ship intends to rely on an exemption under any one of those subsections, the owner shall provide information to an enforcement officer, in the form and manner specified by the Minister, establishing that the ship meets the applicable conditions under any of paragraphs (2.2)(a) to (d).

• Marginal note:Assistance in cases of distress

  (3) Nothing in this section precludes a foreign ship or a non-duty paid ship from rendering assistance to persons, ships or aircraft in danger or distress in Canadian waters.

• Marginal note:United States Wreckers Act

  (4) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of operations permitted by the United States Wreckers Act.

• Marginal note:DEW Sites

  (5) Subsection (1) does not apply to any ship that is owned by the Government of the United States and used for the sole purpose of transporting goods of Canadian or United States origin owned by the Government of the United States to supply Distant Early Warning Sites.

• Marginal note:Other laws apply

  (6) For greater certainty, any law of Canada that imposes safety or pollution prevention requirements applies to a foreign ship that is exempted from the application of subsection (1).

• Marginal note:Control

  (7) For the purposes of paragraphs (2.2)(b) and (c), an entity is under Canadian or European control

  • (a) in the case of a third party entity that is a corporation, if securities of the corporation to which are attached more than 50% of the votes that may be cast to elect directors of the corporation are directly or indirectly held, otherwise than through a subsidiary or by way of security only, by or for the benefit of any of, or any combination of, the following individuals:

    • (i) a Canadian citizen,

    • (ii) a permanent resident as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, or

    • (iii) a national of a member state of the European Union; or

  • (b) in the case of a third party entity that is a trust, partnership, joint venture or other association, if an individual, or any combination of individuals, described in any of subparagraphs (a)(i) to (iii) holds, directly or indirectly, but not through a subsidiary, an interest in the trust, partnership, joint venture or other association that entitles the individual or combination of individuals to receive more than 50% of its profits or more than 50% of its assets on dissolution. 

• Marginal note:Third party entity

  (8) For the purposes of subsection (7), third party entity means

  • (a) a corporation, other than an entity referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of either Canadian entity or EU entity, that is not incorporated under the law of the United States; or

  • (b) a trust, partnership, joint venture or other association, other than an entity referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of either Canadian entity or EU entity, that is not formed under the law of the United States.