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Admiral Zukunft Defends Jones Act. At a May 8 event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul F. Zukunft emphasized the importance of the Jones Act and warned against its repeal. He explained that revoking the Jones Act “could really have severe repercussions,” including the demise of maritime academies and shipyards, in addition to lasting impacts on the $4.6 trillion maritime commerce industry.
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Coast Guard Proposes to Eliminate Ballast Water Reporting Requirement for Vessels Operating within a Single Captain of the Port Zone. In a regulatory reform win for AWO members, the Coast Guard has concluded that requiring vessels operating exclusively within a single COTP Zone to submit an annual ballast water summary report is an unnecessary burden and has proposed to eliminate the requirement for calendar year 2018. In July 2017, AWO submitted comments in response to the Coast Guard’s request for feedback on regulations that should be repealed, replaced or modified, urging the Coast Guard to eliminate the annual reporting requirement. AWO encourages members to submit comments supporting the proposal by the June 8 comment deadline.
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Push for VIDA Continues with Social Media Campaign Launch. AWO kicked off a VIDA social media campaign last week and will be continuing to post VIDA content daily on our Twitter and Facebook pages. Please be on the lookout for our ongoing VIDA posts, and be sure to follow, share, and like our posts to amplify our VIDA content. We also encourage you to express your support for VIDA on your own social media accounts, using our VIDA hashtags #VIDAisVital and #PassVIDA. You can keep up with our posts on Facebook here and on Twitter here. If you have any questions, please contact Ben Lerner (blerner@americanwaterways.com) or Deanna Wisniewski (dwisniewski@americanwaterways.com).
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RCP Standards Board Issues Guidance on Subchapter M Enforcement. Recently, the RCP Standards Board released a memo providing guidance to AWO members on how to address in their safety management systems Subchapter M requirements that the U.S. Coast Guard Eighth and Ninth Districts have identified as candidates for deferred enforcement at the discretion of inspectors and investigators. The memo recommends that members who will not be in compliance with these Subchapter M requirements by July 20, 2018 identify these requirements as nonconformities in their TSMS and work with their TPO to develop a corrective action plan.
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RCP Standards Board Offers Internal Audit Schedule Alignment Option. More than 35 AWO member companies have taken advantage of the opportunity offered by the RCP Standards Board encouraging RCP-certified companies that are no longer in the provisional stage to reset the start date of their five-year RCP certification to the date their initial TSMS Certificate is issued. In response to feedback from members and AWO-recognized third-party auditing organizations, the Standards Board has revised its November 2017 memorandum to also include a provision that allows a company to reset its internal audit schedule to align with the TSMS Certificate and vessel Certificate of Inspection anniversary dates. Companies should include this request in writing when seeking the initial alignment. The revised memorandum may be accessed by clicking here.
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AWO Voices Operator Concerns with BOEM’s New York Bight Proposal. At the New York Bight Renewable Energy Intergovernmental Task Force meeting on May 9 in Newark, NJ, AWO expressed concerns with the U.S. Bureau of Energy Management’s proposal to establish wind farms off the coast of New York. “The proposed Wind Energy Areas would either force vessels to transit in more crowded conditions closer to shore or, alternatively, would force tows offshore into more dangerous sea states,” AWO noted in brief public comments. While Task Force members acknowledged that the impacts on fishing and navigation are the biggest concerns surrounding the proposed areas, no final decisions will be made until after the comment period closes on May 29.
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AWO Supports St. Lawrence Seaway Anchorages Proposal. On May 3, AWO submitted a comment letter supporting the U.S. Coast Guard proposal to establish two separate anchorage grounds, Carleton Island Anchorage and Tibbetts Point Anchorage, near Cape Vincent, NY. The noncontroversial proposal was requested by the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation and is intended to increase safety for vessels transiting the Seaway. In its comments, AWO emphasized that anchorages are an important tool for traffic management. “Waterway systems need resiliency and the flexibility to accommodate different kinds of vessel traffic,” AWO wrote, “and anchorages help systems achieve these aims.”
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AWO Members Complete RCP Audits. Congratulations to Cass Marine Group LLC, Dann Marine Towing, LC, and Hays Tug & Launch Service Inc. for successfully completing RCP audits since the last AWO Letter was published. To view members’ RCP status, click here.
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