REGULATIONS
Coast Guard: New Sub M Guidance Documents By C.F. St. Clair
T
he U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) issued three guidance documents in May pertaining to Subchapter M towing vessel safety regulations: • Towing Vessel COI Inspections under TSMS Option; • Enforcement Guidance for Harbor Assist Towing Vessels When Operating Beyond the Boundary Line; and • Guidance to Concerning the Use of Doubler Plates for Repairs Involving Towing Vessels Subject to 46 CFR Subchapter M.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock/ Ted PAGEL
Inspections Under TSMS Option The “TSMS Option” (Towing safety management system) compliance option within Subchapter M allows a third party operator (TPO) to oversee a company’s Sub M requirements. The other is the USCG option, in which the Coast Guard is more directly involved, particularly regarding annual vessel inspections. With TSMS, a vessel undergoes a USCG inspection just once every five years. However, the TSMS option requires that annual surveys and audits be submitted to the USCG to document compliance. Fundamental to Sub M and the underlying reason for the inspections and reports is receipt of a USCGissued Certificate of Inspection (COI), without which a vessel cannot operate. Sub M phase-in started in 2019 and concludes July 19, 2022. Many TSMS vessels now operate with COIs, requiring vessel owners (or TPOs) to submit the required annual survey and audit reports. If this describes your Sub M program and status,
this new guidance is important and worth a close review. The guidance provides expanded information about the specific material required within TSMS reports. It includes a colorcoded timeline—denoting who has to do what and when—to keep TSMS activities aligned with the COI five-year renewal. A vessel owner and TPO may want to double-check their coordination and understanding. No one wants to face a situation in which the USCG judges five years of work to be inadequate or otherwise off the mark for a COI renewal. The guidance text expands on the directives in the chart. For example, the chart makes clear that a COI application is due 30 days in advance of a desired inspection date. The text then details the information necessary for a complete application, particularly for an initial COI, which requires work to start six months prior so that an application is grounded in relevant safety indicators. Renewal also requires a 30-day advance filing. Again, the guidance text lists information the USCG will require at inspection. For example, the guidance requires “objective evidence” of external or internal survey programs and “objective evidence” of dry dock and internal structural exams. Sub M is a complicated and dynamic program. This new COI Guidance can lower compliance risks.
Use of “Doubler Plates” and Beyond “the Boundary Line” These two guidance documents are more limited in scope, referencing concerns and
practices important to industry and the USCG. At issue is whether these common concerns are aligned. Recall that this guidance is for marine inspectors, either the USCG’s Officers in Charge, Marine Inspections (OCMI) or TPO personnel. Regarding doublers, the USCG writes that the use of doublers is common in industry. However, the Guidance notes that a doubler plate repair can lead to increased stress concentrated near the repair. A patchwork of doublers makes it difficult to assess the true condition of the hull. The guidance instructs inspectors that “new doubler plates should not be permitted for permanent repairs,” with a few exceptions, and that a doubler considered permanent will require inspection by “appropriately qualified” personnel and additional testing and reporting. Doublers considered temporary need to be removed ASAP, no later than the next drydock, but an inspector can order removal sooner. Existing doublers can stay unless an inspector decides otherwise. The USCG is considering additional policy development on doublers. The Boundary Line Guidance deals with the USCG’s concern that harbor-assist vessels may be traveling so far from home port that they are required “to cross the Boundary Line,” and traveling farther than a COI permits. The Boundary Line varies depending on coastal regions; again, something a vessel owner will want to review. This distant work is not prohibited, but it is conditional, and the guidance lists the requirements. They include, for example: • A 12-hour voyage limit; • Starting and ending in one OCMI; • The owner/operator must be approved for out-of-boundary operations; • Adequate crew and sufficient lifesaving equipment and capabilities; and • Advance 24-hour notification to the OCMI. It’s worth noting that right now this boundary guidance expires January 1, 2023, and the Coast Guard refers to this guidance as interim. It’s a policy required by the most recent National Defense Authorization Act, which included that expiration date. July 2021 // Marine Log 13
