Subchapter M News

Not all towing vessel companies are choosing Third Party Organizations (TPOs) for their Subchapter M compliance option. One size does not fit all.Under Subchapter M, towing vessel companies may opt to use TPOs to conduct their audits and surveys instead of inspections by the Coast Guard. While many companies are going the TPO route, many are opting for traditional Coast Guard inspections.As a retired Coast Guard marine inspector, I have always advocated the Coast Guard option to our clients.

One Year After Hurricane Harvey, AWO Chairman Touts Houston Recovery; Tugboat, Towboat and Barge Industry Resiliency.During their recent 2018 Fall Convention in Houston, the members of The American Waterways Operators, the national trade association representing the U.S. tugboat, towboat and barge industry, heard from AWO Chairman and Houston resident Tom Marian, General Counsel at Buffalo Marine Service, Inc., who reflected on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey making landfall and the resiliency of both the City of Houston and the tugboat, towboat and barge industry nationwide.

Issued at the National Quality Steering Committee (NQSC) meeting on July 31, 2018, the American Waterway Operators (AWO) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) issued their annual report that benchmarks and further serves as the annual safety report card for the domestic towing industry. This year, it comes at a particularly timely moment, just on the heels of the deadline for the so-called ‘subchapter M’ towboat rules.The NQSC uses three measures to track overall trends in safety and environmental protection. These useful indicators of towing industry trends include (a.) Crew fatalities per 100,000 towing industry workers, (b.) Gallons of oil spilled from tank barges per million gallons transported, and (c.) The number and severity of towing vessel casualties.