Request Notice: Use of Foreign-Built Small Passenger Vessel in United States Coastwise Trade, M/V BOWDITCH

A foreign-built boat named BOWDITCH wants to carry paying passengers along the U.S. coast. Before that can happen, the Maritime Administration is asking whether it would hurt American boatbuilders.

Here is how the process works. Federal law lets the U.S. Coast Guard approve coastwise trade for small passenger vessels that carry no more than 12 paying passengers, even if they were built overseas. But MARAD must first decide, after public comment, that the vessel will not harm U.S. vessel builders or U.S. coastwise businesses that use American-built boats.

MARAD has received that kind of request for the M/V BOWDITCH. The owner’s description of the vessel and its planned service is posted in the docket at regulations.gov, number MARAD-2026-1456.

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Charter captains, shipyards and tour operators have until October 28, 2026, to comment. You can file online or by mail or hand delivery to the DOT Docket Management Facility, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590.

Federal Register filing: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/09/28/2026-19798/request-notice-use-of-foreign-built-small-passenger-vessel-in-united-states-coastwise-trade-mv

This is a Notice Nearby publisher-desk Federal brief — a short in-house summary of a public federal filing. It is not official agency minutes, not a newspaper story, and not Legal Publication. It does not satisfy a statutory notice requirement.