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Strong Public-Private Support for Safety Management System- Based Towing Vessel Inspection Regime Seen

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The American Waterways Operators (AWO), the trade association for the American tugboat, towboat and barge industry, has been joined by a numerous and diverse group of public and private entities in supporting a safety management system (SMS)-based towing vessel inspection program, a first for the industry. Written comments to the U.S. Coast Guard's rulemaking docket, which closed March 25, echoed themes expressed by a strong majority of speakers at four public meetings held by the Coast Guard earlier this year. Those entities supporting the SMS approach include the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the American Petroleum Institute (API), the Transportation Institute, the National Mining Association, the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF), the Offshore Marine Service Association, the Portland Cement Association, and the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA). A sampling of comments to the docket includes the following:

NTSB:"The NTSB supports regulations that will require all domestic towing companies to develop and implement an effective safety management system that ensures adequate management oversight of the maintenance and operation of all towing vessels."

API: "API supports the establishment of an inspection system for towing vessels that will build on the success of industry initiatives such as the AWO Responsible Carrier Program and improve towing safety across the board. We encourage the Coast Guard to use the authority granted by Congress to adopt a safety management system requirement as the centerpiece of the new inspection system."

National Mining Association: "We believe the Coast Guard can promote both higher levels of safety and continued cost-efficiency by making a safety management system the heart of the new inspection system and avoiding a prescriptive regulatory approach based on a deep-sea ship-style inspection model."

OCIMF: "OCIMF recommends the adoption of a Safety Management System approach . . . to measure vessel compliance."

Portland Cement Association: "The Coast Guard should ensure that the new inspection system focuses on the real causes of towing vessel casualties, and steer clear of prescriptive requirements that undermine the industry's efficiency without addressing real safety concerns."

AWO: "While AWO members are proud of the role we have played in raising the bar of safety in the towing industry, we are keenly aware that it is not enough to reduce crew fatalities, oil spills, and serious vessel casualties. We know that we have an obligation to ourselves, our employees, our customers, and the public to strive to eliminate those occurrences altogether. . . Establishing an inspection program for towing vessels based on a safety management system is, in our view, the best way to build on the achievements of the Responsible Carrier Program and insert a needed layer of judiciously deployed, effectively targeted governmental oversight that will enhance industry safety across the board."

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