33 USC § 2734 - Vessel traffic service system

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t33/s2734"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "33 USC § 2734 - Vessel traffic service system"
title_number: 33
title_name: "NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS"
section_number: "2734"
section_name: "Vessel traffic service system"
chapter_number: 40
chapter_name: "OIL POLLUTION"
subchapter_number: "II"
subchapter_name: "PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND PROVISIONS"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Pub. L. 101–380, title V, § 5004, Aug. 18, 1990, 104 Stat. 553; Pub. L. 107–295, title IV, § 408(b)(2), Nov. 25, 2002, 116 Stat. 2117.)"
---


# § 2734. Vessel traffic service system

The Secretary of Transportation shall within one year after August 18, 1990—

**(1)** acquire, install, and operate such additional equipment (which may consist of radar, closed circuit television, satellite tracking systems, or other shipboard dependent surveillance), train and locate such personnel, and issue such final regulations as are necessary to increase the range of the existing VTS system in the Port of Valdez, Alaska, sufficiently to track the locations and movements of tank vessels carrying oil from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline when such vessels are transiting Prince William Sound, Alaska, and to sound an audible alarm when such tankers depart from designated navigation routes; and

**(2)** submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report on the feasibility and desirability of instituting positive control of tank vessel movements in Prince William Sound by Coast Guard personnel using the Port of Valdez, Alaska, VTS system, as modified pursuant to paragraph (1).

---

**Source Credit**: (Pub. L. 101–380, title V, § 5004, Aug. 18, 1990, 104 Stat. 553; Pub. L. 107–295, title IV, § 408(b)(2), Nov. 25, 2002, 116 Stat. 2117.)

## Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2002—Par. (2).  substituted “Transportation and Infrastructure” for “Merchant Marine and Fisheries”.

## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Transfer of Functions

For transfer of authorities, functions, personnel, and assets of the Coast Guard, including the authorities and functions of the Secretary of Transportation relating thereto, to the Department of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related references, see sections 468(b), 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6, Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of , as modified, set out as a note under .