Also known as coasting trade or cabotage.
A rule or now more commonly regulated by statute, of maritime law (shipping law) that regulates shipping when it occurs between one port to another within the borders or territorial waters of a single nation.
This extract from Canadian law (Gold's Maritime Law) is not atypical of the statutes or rules of law which prevail within the laws of most seafaring nations, with access to the ocean or with commercial fleets:
"Ships involved in cabotage (or coastal trading, which is defined as trading from one port to another in Canada) must be Canadian as this tade is reserved exclusively for Canadian ships.
"The Coastal Trading Act is a legislative attempt to protect the position of Canadian shipping with respect to this trade. Where Canadian ships is not adequate to meet the need, ships of al nations will be granted access to trade on payment of a reasonable fee to obtain a liense."
REFERENCES:
- Coasting Trade Act, Statutes of Canada 1992, Chapter 31, published at http://www.canlii.com/ca/sta/c-33.3/
- Duhaime, Lloyd, Legal Definition of Cabotage, published at http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/C/Cabotage.aspx
- Gold, E. and others, Maritime Law (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2003), page 179.