On April 21, 2022, President Biden issued a proclamation prohibiting Russian-affiliated vessels from entering US ports. Under the proclamation a “Russian-affiliated vessel” means:

• Vessels under Russian registry, i.e. Russian flagged vessels;

• Russian-owned vessels, i.e. the Russian government or a Russian company, citizen or permanent resident appears as the legal title owner on the vessel’s registration documents; or

• Russian-operated vessels, i.e. a Russian company, citizen or permanent resident makes “the commercial decisions” regarding the employment of a ship, including how and where the vessel is employed.

There are two exceptions to the prohibition.

The prohibition does not apply to Russian-affiliated vessels “used in the transport of source material, special nuclear material, and nuclear byproduct material” for which and for as long as it is determined “no viable source of supply is available” without the use of such Russian-affiliated vessels.

Additionally, the prohibition does not apply to Russian-affiliate vessels seeking to enter a US port “due to force majeure, solely to allow seafarers of any nationality to disembark or embark for purposes of conducting crew changes, emergency medical care, or for other humanitarian need.”

The prohibition is effective April 28, 2022.