Training Voyages and Sovereign Immune Status. The Academy shall submit the training voyage itinerary of the Training Ship including a listing of foreign ports to be visited, for approval of the Deputy Associate Administrator and National Coordinator for Maritime Education and Training or designee at least sixty (60) days in advance of the date such voyage is scheduled to begin. The Deputy Associate Administrator and National Coordinator for Maritime Education and Training or designee shall arrange with the Department of State for diplomatic clearance of the Training Ship to visit foreign ports. Except in an emergency where the security and/or safety of the ship is at risk or a person/s on board are at risk of death or serious bodily harm (e.g., a medical emergency), absent the express permission of the Administrator, training ships will not enter foreign ports without first obtaining diplomatic clearance (or functional equivalent for port states that may reserve the use of this term for naval vessels) from the port state recognizing the Training Ship’s sovereign immune status such that the Training Ship will be granted the privileges and immunities customarily given to sovereign immune vessels. As a matter of customary international law, U.S. Training Ships as ships owned or operated by a state and used, for the time being, only on government non-commercial service, are entitled to sovereign immunity. This means that such ships are immune from arrest or search (whether in foreign internal or territorial seas or international waters); immune from foreign taxation; exempt from any foreign state regulation requiring flying the flag of such foreign state (either in its ports or while passing through its territorial seas); and entitled to exclusive control over persons on board such vessels with respect to acts performed on board. The privilege of sovereign immunity includes protecting the identity of personnel, stores, or other property on board the Training Ship. Actions taken or requested by foreign officials inconsistent with the sovereign immune status of the Training Ship shall be reported as soon as possible to the Deputy Associate Administrator and National Coordinator for Maritime Education and Training and/or designee and to appropriate U.S. Embassy or Consulate officials. During non-business hours, the MARAD Coordination Center (MCC) should be contacted.
