The Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Center published, ‘Documentation and Tonnage of Smaller Commercial Vessels – Tonnage Guide 5.’ The guide provides information concerning federal documentation and tonnage measurement requirements for commercial vessels of the United States that are less than 79 feet in overall length.

The Marine Safety Center has responded to a number of inquiries regarding application of the five net ton threshold for documentation under federal law, and assignment and certification of tonnages using the different measurement systems available to owners of smaller commercial vessels. Although federal documentation and tonnage measurement requirements appear in a variety of publically available documents, the MSC concluded that a single document addressing these requirements in a more comprehensive manner could be helpful to vessel owners and other interested parties in both the public and private sectors.

View the ‘Documentation and Tonnage of Smaller Commercial Vessels – Tonnage Guide 5’ for full details.

This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official source documents, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These documents remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.