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Effective US-Controlled Ships (EUSCS)

When US flag ships are unavailable, foreign flag ships can be acquired for DOD use through three different methods: voluntary charter, allied shipping agreements, and requisitioning of effective US control shipping. During peacetime, MSC will charter foreign flag ships whenever US flag ships are unavailable. This ability allows MSC to enter the foreign charter market and quickly expand its fleet whenever the need arises. Allied shipping agreements, arranging for vessels received through allied nations, can either be pre-negotiated and in existence or they can be drawn up on an emergency basis as the need arises.

Effective United States-Controlled Ships (EUSCS) are ships owned by US citizens or companies that are registered in countries that have no prohibition on requisitioning of these vessels by the United States. These ships may be requisitioned by the United States under authority of Section 902, Merchant Marine Act of 1936 (title 46, USC, section 1242). United States controlled shipping are selected ships under foreign flag considered to be under "effective US control," i.e., that can reasonably be expected to be made available to the United States in time of national emergency.

Hostile actions directed at merchant shipping are a present and growing problem. These hostile actions include piracy, theft and terrorism. In order to establish a reliable database of incidents to define the area and degree of the problem, a database has been instituted by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) as the Anti-Shipping Activity Messages (ASAM) file. NGA has also established Ship Hostile Action Report (SHAR) procedures to rapidly disseminate information within the US Government on hostile actions against U.S. merchant ships. It should be noted that neither the ASAM nor SHAR reports are a distress message.

US and effective US controlled (EUSC) vessels under attack or threat of attack may request direct assistance from U.S. naval forces by following emergency call-up procedures.

The open registries include ships considered to be under effective US Control (EUSC). The registries commonly associated with the EUSC concept are Liberia, Panama, Honduras, the Bahamas, and the Marshall Islands -- and usually crewed by foreign nationals. These ships are majority-owned by U.S. citizens and are thus subject to requisition pursuant to Section 902 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936. The core of the EUSC concept is the assumption that the concerned nations will not interpose any objection to the exercise by the United States of its power of requisition over ships on their registries. There are no agreements, formal or otherwise, underlying the EUSC concept, which originated in the Department of Defense as a way to avoid the Neutrality Act prior to World War II, before our entry into that conflict, when we wished to supply Great Britain. The composition of the aggregate of EUSC ships varies over time depending on the economic interests of their owners, the usual incentive being relatively low crew costs. Not all EUSC ships are militarily useful and the requisition power does not cover the crewing of any ship requisitioned.