## Facts

- R.J. Schoenlank was a New Jersey-licensed pilot authorized to pilot ocean-going vessels into and out of New York Harbor via Sandy Hook.
- Kurz-Moran Shipping Agency, Inc. acted as agent for the owner of the M/T CHERRY VALLEY, an American-flag tanker (the vessel was also named in rem but not served).
- On September 28, 1992, the CHERRY VALLEY finished discharging oil at Bayway, New Jersey and was to proceed in ballast from New York Harbor to Sewells Point Anchorage, Virginia.
- Schoenlank offered to pilot the vessel from Stapleton Anchorage in New York Harbor to sea; Kurz-Moran declined his services.
- The vessel instead used a federally licensed pilot (through Interport Pilots Agency, Inc.).
- On the New York-to-Virginia leg, the vessel did not call at foreign ports, did not carry foreign cargo, and did not transport merchandise or passengers for hire.
- The CHERRY VALLEY’s documentation carried both registry and coastwise endorsements.
- Schoenlank sought state pilotage fees (including refusal-based fees) under New Jersey law; defendants contended federal pilotage governed because the voyage was coastwise.
- The parties proceeded on stipulated facts and cross-motions for summary judgment.

## Issues

1. Whether the vessel’s ballast movement between New Jersey and Virginia was a coastwise voyage governed by federal pilotage requirements or a registry/foreign-trade voyage subject to New Jersey pilotage law and refusal-based fees.
2. Whether the vessel’s construction-differential subsidy status under the Merchant Marine Act affected the voyage’s pilotage classification.

## Decision

- The court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment and denied plaintiff’s motion.
- The court held the Bayway-to-Sewells Point ballast run was a coastwise voyage for pilotage purposes.
- Because the voyage was coastwise, federal pilotage rules required a federally licensed pilot and displaced application of New Jersey pilotage statutes.
- The agent and vessel were not liable for New Jersey pilotage fees based on refusal of the state-licensed pilot’s services.

## Legal Principles

- For pilotage, the controlling classification turns on the character of the particular voyage (e.g., domestic origin/destination and absence of foreign trade), not merely on the vessel’s possession of a registry endorsement.
- When federal pilotage statutes prescribe federal pilotage for a coastwise voyage, state pilotage requirements and refusal-based fee provisions do not apply to that voyage.
- Statutory regimes governing construction-differential subsidies serve purposes distinct from pilotage regulation and do not convert a domestic ballast voyage into registry/foreign trade for pilotage analysis.

## Conclusion

The court treated the tanker’s domestic ballast voyage between U.S. ports as coastwise, applied federal pilotage requirements, and rejected New Jersey pilotage-fee liability for refusal of a state-licensed pilot, including any theory based on the vessel’s subsidy status or documentation endorsements.


Schoenlank v. Kurz-Moran Shipping Agency, 847 F. Supp. 311 (S.D.N.Y. 1994)