The Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance would like to remind the owners and operators of towing vessels that intend to participate in marine salvage or marine firefighting contingency plans and operations to note this on their Certificate of Inspections and ensure the vessel complies with the appropriate requirements for the waters on which they will operate. Furthermore, vessels that intend to engage in international voyages should make this known to their servicing Officer in Charge, Marine Inspections representative so that proper inspections can be conducted and noted on the COI.

In March of 2018, Maritime Commons published a two-part piece entitled “Subchapter M regulations and marine firefighting requirements – A discussion from two perspectives” to assist tank and non-tank vessel owners and operators as well as towing vessel owners and operators understand how Subchapter M may affect a towing vessel’s ability to be used as a resource provider in a Vessel Response Plan. The first segment was written with the towing vessel owner/operator in mind, and the second segment, immediately following, was written for the Vessel Response Plan holder. Readers are invited to review this post and follow up with their local OCMI with any questions.

Contact information for Coast Guard Officers in Charge, Marine Inspection

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.