Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 120.djvu/1677

 120 STAT. 1646

PUBLIC LAW 109–304—OCT. 6, 2006 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION OF COMMODITIES.—Subject to paragraph (3), in carrying out this section and section 55305 of this title, the Corporation shall take steps necessary and practicable, and consistent with this section and section 55305, without detriment to any port range to allocate, on the principle of lowest landed cost without regard to the country of registry of the vessel, 25 percent of the bagged, processed, or fortified commodities provided under title II of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1721 et seq.). ‘‘(3) CALCULATIONS.—In carrying out paragraph (2), first there shall be calculated the allocation of 100 percent of the quantity to be procured on an overall lowest landed cost basis without regard to the country of registry of the vessel, and then there shall be allocated to the Great Lakes port range any cargoes for which it has the lowest landed cost under that calculation. The requirements for transportation on vessels of the United States under this section and section 55305 of this title do not apply to commodities allocated to the Great Lakes port range under paragraph (2). Commodities allocated to the Great Lakes port range under paragraph (2) may not be reallocated or diverted to another port range to meet those requirements to the extent that the total tonnage of commodities to which paragraph (2) applies that is furnished and transported from the Great Lakes port range is less than 25 percent of the total annual tonnage of the commodities furnished. ‘‘(4) AWARDING CONTRACTS.—In awarding a contract for the transportation by vessel of commodities from the Great Lakes port range pursuant to an export activity referred to in subsection (b), an agency— ‘‘(A) shall consider expressions of freight interest for any vessel from a vessel operator who meets reasonable requirements for financial and operational integrity; and ‘‘(B) may not deny award of the contract to a person based on the type of vessel on which the transportation would be provided (including on the basis that the transportation would not be provided on a liner vessel, as that term is used in the Shipping Act of 1984, as in effect on November 14, 1995), if the person otherwise satisfies reasonable requirements for financial and operational integrity. ‘‘(5) NONAVAILABILITY OF VESSELS.—A determination of nonavailability of vessels of the United States resulting from the application of this subsection may not reduce the gross tonnage of commodities required by this section and section 55305 of this title to be transported on vessels of the United States.

‘‘§ 55315. Minimum tonnage ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘base period’ means the 5-year period running from the sixth through the second prior fiscal years. ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT.—For each fiscal year, the minimum quantity of agricultural commodities to be exported under programs subject to section 55314 of this title is the average of the tonnage

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