Page 76: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 1998)

For Heavy-Duty

Boat Handling

Standards, Statutes and States: The Issues Facing Our Nation's Tugboat, Towboat and Barge Industry

Today's modern tugboat, tow- diverse— from inland barging on ing and bunkering in ports and Waterways boat, and barge industry is opera- the Mississippi River, to ocean tow- harbors throughout the country Operators (AWO) tionally and geographically ing along the coasts, to shipdock- One the challenges the American faces as a trade association is har-

A model 300BFM Marine Travelift mobile boat hoist at Knight & Carver Yachtcenter, San Diego, CA

Marine Travelift Mobile Boat Hoists Are an Economic Alternative to Rail and

Elevating Platform Systems

When it comes to making heavy-duty boat lifts,

Marine Travelift is the clear choice. Units like the 300BFM provide a big capacity with an open end design for easier lifts, fast two speed hoisting and travel for improved customer service and 90° pivot steering with a 64 ft. turning radius for outstanding yard maneuverability ... features you can't get with other systems. And Marine Travelift hoist slings easily adapt to various boat sizes and hull shapes. There's no need for costly and time con- suming custom cradle changes.

Learn how easy and affordable it is to own a

Marine Travelift mobile boat hoist. Get all the de- tails and specifications on the 300BFM or our complete line of mobile boat hoists with capacities from 25 to 1,000 tons or our line of Mariner® forklifts from your local representative or Marine

Travelift, Inc., 49 E. Yew St., P.O. Box 66, Stur- geon Bay, WI54235-0066 USA. • Phone: 920- 743-6202 • Fax: 920-743-1522 • E-mail: [email protected] • Web-site: www.marine-travelift.com nessing that diversity and focusing our col- lective attention on the most important issues AWO's Allegretti which affect the broad spectrum of the membership. AWO has been fortunate throughout its 54-year history as our more than 375 mem- bers have much more in common with one another than they have differences born of their diversity.

That has consistently allowed them to coalesce as a strong indus- try voice and an effective advocacy source. Today, three critical issues cross geographic and operational boundaries and present key oppor- tunities and challenges for all com- panies involved in and involved with this vital sector of the mar- itime industry: Industry stan- dards, criminal liability and state activism.

Raising the bar...again and again

The first issue, or trend, is the increasing willingness of the mar- itime industry itself to take responsibility for setting its own operational standards to meet marine safety and environmental protection goals. The tug and barge industry started down this path almost four years ago, when

AWO's Board of Directors adopted the Responsible Carrier Program (RCP) as a code of practice for

AWO member companies. Since that time, there has been a real evolution in the program and a continuing willingness on the part of AWO's members to take the next step on the road to self-regulation and industry standard-setting.

Last October, AWO's Board approved the design of a third- party audit for the RCP. An AWO member Accreditation Board has also approved, trained and certi- fied more than 50 third-party auditors for the RCP, who are now ready to perform RCP audits for our members. And this spring

AWO's membership took its most significant step yet, voting over- whelmingly to amend the AWO

Constitution and Bylaws to make "The No. 1 Hoist Supplier...Over 2,500 Units in

Service Worldwide!" mRRing TRRVgLIFTc 76 Circle 379 on Reader Service Card Maritime Reporter/Engineering News