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.