The Office of Port and Facility Compliance issued Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular 04-18, “Guidelines For Drafting The Marine Transportation System Recovery Plan,” to provide guidance to field commanders, Marine Transportation Recovery personnel and the maritime community to develop and maintain the MTS Recovery Plan. This NVIC provides a common template for the development of MTS Recovery Plans to address all hazards, MTS recovery processes and procedures while promoting unity of effort among all stakeholders with MTS recovery interests within each Captain of the Port zone.

The Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 requires COTPs, as federal maritime security coordinators, to implement and exercise Area Maritime Security Plans (AMSP) to enhance deterrence and response to Transportation Security Incidents (TSI) and maritime terrorism threats. The AMSP is required to include a Salvage Response Plan and to establish area response and recovery protocols to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a TSI. However, these protocols can be applied to other non-security operations, such as an oil/hazardous material release, a natural disaster response, mass rescue operations, or other contingency events. The MTSRP supports recovery and restoration of the MTS in order to effectively and efficiently resume port operations following a disruption to the MTS, no matter the source of the disruption.

For full details and to review the template, download NVIC 04-18.

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.