Page 24: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2015)

WORKBOAT UPDATE

AWO has high expectations that

Subchapter M will have a transformative effect on industry safety by raising standards of safety and environmental stewardship throughout the tugboat, towboat and barge industry.

Michael G. Morris Posed @ Paducah, KY.

AWO members are already required to tive effect on industry safety by raising ate Commerce Committee in June. Building Support for the Jones Act comply with a third-party-audited safety standards of safety and environmental VIDA would end an untenable situa- The tugboat, towboat and barge in- management system as a condition of stewardship throughout the tugboat, tion in which vessel operators must com- dustry brings vital commodities to com- membership in the association. In 1994, towboat and barge industry. That will be ply with both Coast Guard and Environ- munities throughout the U.S. mainland,

AWO became the ? rst transportation good for our industry, good for the en- mental Protection Agency regulations, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The trade association to adopt a code of safe vironment, and good for the American as well as more than 150 state-speci? c industry also provides jobs for American practice and environmental stewardship public. requirements set by more than two dozen citizens and supports U.S. economic, for its member companies. Today, the states. As AWO Vice Chairman James national and homeland security objec-

AWO Responsible Carrier Program is Moving Closer: Uniform Standards Farley, President of Kirby Offshore Ma- tives, serving as the “eyes and ears” for the most widely used safety management for Vessel Discharges rine, explained at a Senate Commerce the Coast Guard on the coastal and in- system in the tugboat, towboat and barge Another of AWO’s long-term advo- Committee hearing in February, “The land waterways. The statutory founda- industry. AWO members use the RCP cacy priorities is moving closer to real- problem is not that vessel discharges are tion of the domestic maritime industry is to develop company-speci? c safety and ity this year. For the last seven years, regulated; it is how they are regulated. the Jones Act, which requires that ves- environmental policies and programs AWO and a broad coalition of over 60 The current unclear and inconsistent sels moving goods between U.S. ports be tailored to the industry’s unique opera- national and regional maritime and busi- regulatory system makes compliance owned, crewed, and built by Americans. tional environments. The RCP incorpo- ness organizations have been pushing for confusing and investment decisions un- The Jones Act provides a level playing rates best industry practices in company legislative reform that would establish a certain.” VIDA will ensure the highest ? eld and a stable investment climate that management policies, vessel equipment uniform national framework for the reg- standard of protection for the waterways gives American vessel owners the con? - and human factors. ulation of ballast water and other vessel and provide the regulatory certainty ves- dence to make long-term investments in

Earlier this year, the U.S. Coast Guard discharges. Through the bipartisan ef- sel owners need to make investments in vessels, equipment and shoreside infra- con? rmed that it intends to accept the forts of Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), John state-of-the-art ballast water treatment structure. With the Jones Act as its foun-

AWO Responsible Carrier Program as Thune (R-SD), and Bill Nelson (D-FL) systems. dation, the domestic maritime industry a TSMS once the towing vessel inspec- S.373, the Vessel Incidental Discharge Companion legislation—H.R. 980— supports nearly half a million American tion regulations are ? nalized, concluding Act (VIDA), is poised to make its way to was introduced in the House by Rep- jobs and drives almost $100 billion in that the RCP is substantively equivalent the Senate ? oor sometime after the Au- resentatives Duncan Hunter (R-CA), economic bene? t to the United States. to the International Safety Management gust recess. The bill, which currently has Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Frank Working closely with the American

Code. 26 bipartisan cosponsors, was attached LoBiondo (R-NJ) and has 20 bipartisan Maritime Partnership, a broad-based co-

AWO has high expectations that to the Coast Guard reauthorization bill cosponsors. alition of maritime and national defense

Subchapter M will have a transforma- (S. 1611) that was approved by the Sen- organizations, AWO continually works 24 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • AUGUST 2015

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