According to the American Waterways Operators the Department of Homeland Security has approved the Towing Vessel Inspection Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The AWO Letter dated 4/1/2011 states that the NPRM was signed by Janet Napolitano and sent to the office of Management and Budget on 3/30/2011. The OMB review will take about 90 days and the NPRM will be published in the Federal Register in July 2011.

According to Pamela Glass of Workboat Magazine "It is not yet clear if DHS has made changes to the draft, (AWO's) Carpenter said, as it has not been made public. But new standards will likely cover a range of towboat operations, including fuel transfer procedures, safety training and environmental policies, and will probably mirror AWO’s Responsible Carrier Program that has been in place since 1998.

This is good news for the towing industry. The inspection process, first surfacing in the USCG Act of 2004, is finally taking shape and should be on the books by 2012.

Tugboat Compliance Systems software allows any size of company a simple and cost effective means to establish and administer a Towing Safety Management System. For more information contact Dana Teicheira at dana@tugcomp.com, or by telephone at 707-769-9171.

Congress enacted the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 on Oct. 15, 2010 and ordered the Department of Homeland Security, parent agency of the Coast Guard, to finish its work and release the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the inspection of towing vessels within 90 days and complete its final rulemaking within one year of the date of enactment.

The 90 day mark was on Jan. 13, 2011 and has come and gone, with no notice of proposed rulemaking released.

The American Waterway Operators reported "Last week, DHS informed Congress that neither the statutory deadline nor the January 2011 projection for publication would be met. The Department anticipates completing its review of the NPRM and sending it on to the Office of Management and Budget – the last stop prior to publication in the Federal Register – “in the near future,” DHS said.

On March 1, U.S. Representative Jeff Landry (R-LA), Vice Chairman of the Coast Guard and Marine Transportation Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, asked U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Robert J. Papp why, “after two congressional directives and countless industry contacts,” the Department of Homeland Security has yet to publish the notice of proposed rulemaking for towing vessel inspection, which has been under review by the Department for more than two years.

In response, the Commandant cited the significant culture change and resource commitment the proposed rule would pose for both the Coast Guard and the towing industry as the primary factor in the lengthy review process. He noted that the rule has been subject to some revision over the last year and has gone back and forth between the Coast Guard and DHS, where it currently resides".

Summary of software enhancements for Tugboat Compliance Systems currently in the works

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Article outlining Tugboat Compliance Systems software that appeared in the September 2009 issue (Issue # 128) of Professional Mariner magazine

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