Representative Higgins (D-NY) introduced the Short Sea Shipping Act of 2009 (H.R. 3486) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exempt certain shipping from the harbor maintenance tax (HMT). If enacted into law, this bill would exempt from the HMT commercial cargo (other than bulk cargo) loaded at a US mainland port and unloaded at another US mainland port or a port in Canada in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System or loaded at a port in Canada in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System and unloaded at a port in the US mainland. (7/31/09).
(Source: Bryant’s Maritime News)