Interpretation of 1954 Cargo Preference Law

A ruling was requested on the correctness of a legal opinion which held that Lighter Aboard Ship (LASH) services to be performed partly with privately owned U.S.-flag commercial vessels and partly with a foreign-flag system to deliver certain government-sponsored cargoes to the port of Chittagong in Bangladesh would not contravene the 1954 Cargo Preference Law. The law would be contravened because direct service to the port is available by U.S.-flag breakbulk vessels and because the special circumstances (geographic configuration of the port) cannot be used to circumvent the law.