Transport Atlas

How The World Moves
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Concept

Cabotage

KAB-uh-tij, also KAB-uh-tahzh
Legal and Economic Concepts

The transport of goods or passengers between two places in the same country by a carrier registered in a different country. Originally a coastal shipping term from the French caboter, to travel along the coast, it now extends to aviation, rail and road transport, and most countries restrict or prohibit it to protect domestic carriers. The United States enforces one of the strictest regimes through the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, known as the Jones Act, which requires that any vessel carrying goods between US ports be built in the United States, fly the US flag, and be owned and crewed by US citizens. The European Union takes the opposite approach: member states grant each other reciprocal cabotage rights, and a non-resident road haulier who has driven a load into another member state may pick up and deliver one further load there before returning across the border.

Facts
Core Concern
Foreign carriers serving domestic routes, and states forbidding it 1
FAQs

What does the word cabotage mean and where does it come from?

Transport between two places in the same country by a foreign registered carrier; the word comes from the French caboter, to travel along the coast.

Cabotage is the transport of goods or passengers between two places in the same country by a carrier registered in a different country. It was originally a coastal shipping term from the French caboter, to travel along the coast, and it now extends to aviation, rail and road transport. Most countries restrict or prohibit cabotage to protect their domestic carriers.
Connections

Followed By

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Cabotage
Wikipedia
  • Lead section
    Most countries do not permit cabotage, and there are strict sanctions against it
  • In shipping, United States section
    the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (Jones Act) requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on ships that have been constructed in the United States, and fly the U.S. flag, are owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
  • Part Of: Aviation, lead paragraph
    The term originally applied to shipping along coastal routes, port to port, but now applies to aviation, railways, and road transport as well.
  • In Group: Carrier Law and Rights, Lead sentence
    Cabotage () is the transport of goods or passengers between two places in the same country by a carrier registered in a different country.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.