Page 12: of Marine News Magazine (April 2024)

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Insights century technology in 2024.” That’s an area of focus. industry. We want to do that in a realistic way. These are

We also want to make sure that we have workers on our great careers where a hardworking person can make a six- vessels who are ? t for duty. One of the things that we have ? gure income within a matter of seven years and have a fan- been advocating for in this era when we’ve seen cannabis tastic career with lots of responsibilities and great bene? ts. legalization in a number of states and localities is drug test- It’s hard work. You’re deployed. You’re on the water. You’re ing options which are better gauges of impairment than the away from home. It’s 24/7. We want to be realistic about current testing modalities that have been approved. We are the challenges involved as well as forthright in describing all strongly supporting the Department of Transportation’s de- the bene? ts so that folks know that the industry is out there cision to allow oral ? uid testing as a drug testing alterna- and can make a decision about whether it’s right for them. I tive. This gives you maybe a couple day lookback window think we still have the strong sense, as do a lot of our public instead of a month or more so company could more readily and private sector partners out there, that there are a lot of tell, “Hey, do I have somebody who’s a safety risk here, or folks in this country who just don’t know what opportuni- do I have somebody who had a marijuana gummy before ties are available to them here and would be pretty excited he ever considered applying for a job in this industry?” The if they knew what those opportunities were.

Department of Transportation has approved oral ? uid test- ing for the other modes of transportation that it regulates. Last year the USCG updated its guidance for

We now need the Coast Guard to publish a parallel regula- ATBs. Why were these updates necessary and tion to authorize it for marine use as well. We’re pressing for what are the biggest changes?

the Coast Guard to do that with speed. The Coast Guard really needed to update its ATB guid-

In addition, we want to be a resource for our members ance. Their Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular had and develop tools and provide forums that they can use as last been revised in 1981. In 40-plus years, the ATB ? eet they deal with the challenges of recruiting and retaining has grown signi? cantly. In addition, we’re now in the Sub- and growing their maritime workforces. We’ve put on a se- chapter M era. Tugs that are part of an ATB combination ries of virtual mariner workforce forums. We have engaged are inspected. The Towing Safety Advisory Committee had with our members and maritime schools and academies to done some good work with the Coast Guard several years talk about how their offerings could be tailored to better back on trying to provide clearer guidance on when ATB support our industry. barges can be authorized to be conditionally occupied, that

As we try to serve as the industry’s united voice, we are is, when somebody can go from the tug onto the barge and partnering with other organizations to spread the good work there for a period of time. We needed this new guid- word about the awesome careers that are out there in our ance because the old guidance was out of date.

© Cam / Adobe Stock 12 | MN April 2024