U.S. Customs Issues Further Cable Installation Guidance For Offshore Wind

U.S. Customs and Border Protection just made public two rulings it issued on March 25, 2022 regarding the laying and burial by a foreign vessel of electrical cable for U.S. offshore wind power generation projects. The rulings amplify earlier guidance on what is permissible under current U.S. law.

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 a number of 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." This holding was affirmed in the March 25 rulings.