CG Proposes Updates to Vessel Traffic Service Regulations
The Coast Guard is proposing to revise and update Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) regulations, it said in a Federal Register notice scheduled for publication Sept. 10. Comments on the proposed rule are due by Sept. 10.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
CG said the Port Arthur revisions are necessary after Port and Waterways Safety Assessment workshop determined that a CG-operated VTS would offer the greatest potential to mitigate risk in the port. Although the proposed rule would change VTS Port Arthur from a voluntary to a mandatory system of compliance for vessels transiting the port, it wouldn't alter vessel operations or impose new costs on industry or the CG, the agency said. This is because all affected vessels are already equipped with Automatic Identification Systems, the only thing needed to comply with VTS requirements, it said.
The proposed rule would also expand the currently voluntary Port Arthur VTS to include Lake Charles, LA, and consolidate and expand the two VTS Special Areas in the Puget Sound, the CG said. The VTS Special Areas serve to avoid having large vessels impede, meet, overtake or cross each other's intended track in the constricted water between the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound, it said. The proposed regulation would incorporate the two Special Areas into a single consolidated VTS Special Area, it said.
The changes would also update the designated frequencies for the Maritime Mobile Service Identifiers for Louisville and Los Angeles/Long Beach; and remove an outdated reference to Dangerous Cargo, adding an updated reference to Certain Dangerous Cargo, it said. The revisions are intended to align regulations with the current operating procedures of the VTSs affected, creating regulatory efficiency.