U.S. Customs Clarifies Foreign Vessel Scope For Offshore Wind Cable Installation

U.S. Customs and Border Protection clarified further the permissible foreign vessel scope of work for offshore wind cable installation in rulings issued on June 30, 2022 and September 2, 2022. In two instances – installation of cable protection and transportation of excess cable – CBP has narrowed permissive prior rulings.

CBP has long held that a foreign vessel may pick up pipe or cable in a U.S. port and lay it from that point to another point in the United States or otherwise between two U.S. "points." What constitutes a U.S. "point" offshore is the subject of several CBP rulings. The rationale is that the laying of pipe or cable is not the "transportation" of "merchandise" between two U.S. points which is proscribed by U.S. coastwise law known as the "Jones Act."