[§271G-16]  Rates, fares and charges of
common carriers by water.  (a)  It shall be the duty of every water carrier
of passengers to provide safe and adequate service, equipment, and facilities
for the transportation of passengers and to establish, observe, and enforce
just and reasonable rates, fares, and charges, and just and reasonable
regulations and practices relating thereto, and to the issuance, form, and
substance of tickets, the carrying of personal, sample, and excess baggage, the
facilities for transportation, and all other matters relating to or connected
with the transportation of passengers.



(b)  It shall be the duty of every water
carrier of property to provide safe and adequate service, equipment, and
facilities for the transportation of property and to establish, observe, and
enforce just and reasonable rates, charges, and classifications, and just and
reasonable regulations and practices relating thereto, and to the manner and
method of presenting, marking, packing, and delivering property for
transportation, the facilities for transportation, and all other matters
relating to or connected with the transportation of property.



(c)  All charges made for any service rendered
by any water carrier in the transportation of passengers or property or in
connection therewith shall be just and reasonable, and every unjust and
unreasonable charge for such service or any part thereof, is prohibited and
declared to be unlawful.  It shall be unlawful for any water carrier to make,
give, or cause any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any
particular person, locality, region, district, island, or description of
traffic, in any respect whatsoever; or to subject any particular person,
locality, region, district, island, or description of traffic to any unjust
discrimination or undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any
respect whatsoever; provided that this subsection shall not be construed to
apply to discrimination, prejudice, or disadvantage to the traffic of any other
carrier of whatever description.



(d)  Any person or body politic may make
complaint in writing to the commission that any such rate, fare, charge, rule,
regulation, or practice, in effect or proposed to be put into effect, is or
will be in violation of this section.  Whenever, after hearing, upon complaint
or in an investigation on its own initiative, the commission shall be of the
opinion that any individual rate, fare, or charge, demand, charged, or
collected by any common carrier or carriers by water for transportation, or any
rule, regulation, or practice whatsoever of the carrier or carriers affecting
such rate, fare, or charge or the value of the service thereunder, is or will
be unjust or unreasonable, or unjustly discriminatory or unduly preferential or
unduly prejudicial, it shall determine and prescribe the lawful rate, fare, or
charge or the maximum or minimum or maximum and minimum rate, fare, or charge
thereafter to be observed, or the lawful rule, regulation, or practice
thereafter to be made effective.



(e)  In the exercise of its power to prescribe
just and reasonable rates, fares, and charges for the transportation of
passengers or property by water carriers, and to prescribe classifications,
regulations, and practices relating thereto, the commission shall give due
consideration, among other factors, to the effect of rates upon the movement of
traffic by the carrier or carriers for which the rates are prescribed; to the
need, in the public interest, of adequate and efficient transportation service
by the carriers at the lowest cost consistent with the furnishing of the
service; and to the need of revenues sufficient to enable the carriers, under
honest, economical, and efficient management, to provide the service.



(f)  Nothing in this section shall be held to
extinguish any remedy or right of action not inconsistent herewith. [L 1974, c
94, pt of §1]