NEWTARGET: International Fast Ferry Market
The Maritime Administration (MarAd) and Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Inc., Freeland, Wash., have entered into a 10-month, costshared cooperative agreement intended to help U.S. companies capture a commanding share of the international fast ferry market. Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilders, Somerset, Mass., and International Catamarans Design (Incat), Sydney, Australia, are Nichols' partners in the project. The purpose of the project is to specify and enhance Incat designs for export sources through Nichols and Gladding- Hearn, to secure the know-how to upgrade Nichols and Gladding- Hearn production methodologies to reduce costs and produce the particular Incat designs at international market prices, and to international market prices, and to implement a comprehensive international marketing program for 1995 to sell Incat designs sourced through the two American companies. MarAd, an agency of the U.S.
Department of Transportation, is acting as an agent for the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA). The cooperative agreement, awarded on a competitive basis, is part of Maritech, a program designed to enhance the competitiveness of American shipyards.
Participation in the industry-initiated Maritech program is one element of the President's plan to strengthen America's shipbuilding industry and thereby retain the critical shipyard journeyman skills necessary to build future naval combatants and to help preserve a shipbuilding mobilization base in the U.S.
The total value of the agreement is $625,564. The government will contribute funding in the amount of $305,000, and Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Inc. and partners are providing the same amount in cash and in-kind services.
Four Shipping Companies Join SOCP MarAd has announced that four U.S. shipping companies have joined the Ship Operations Cooperative Agreement Program (SOCP). The SOCP is an industry/government partnership formed in 1993 under the leadership of MarAd. The purpose of SOCP is to promote commercially beneficial innovations in vessel operations through the identification, development and application of new methods, procedures and technologies. The objectives are to improve the competitiveness, efficiency, productivity, safety and environmental responsiveness of U.S. vessel operations. The newest members are: Bay Ship Management of Englewood Cliffs, N.J.; Interocean Ugland Management of Voorhees, N.J.; MarineTransport Lines of Weehawken, N.J.;and U.S. Marine Management of Norfolk, Va.
Removing Obsolete Regs MarAd has issued a final rule removing obsolete regulations from 46 CFR Parts 201, 206, 246, 253, 275, 276, 285, and 290 as a result of President Clinton's Regulatory Reinvention Initiative. Regulations and identified obsolete regulations for removal by part, subpart, section or portion of a section are noted above. For additional information, please contactEdmund T. Sommer, Jr., chief, Division of Regulations and Administrative Law, Tel: (202) 366-5181. This rule, Docket No. R-160, becomes effective upon publication in the Federal Register.
MarAd, NOAA, IRS Determine Rate MarAd, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Internal Revenue Service have determined that 7.18 percent is the applicable rate of interest on the amount of additional tax attributable to any non-qualified withdrawals from a Capital Construction Fund established under section 607(h) of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, as amended, in the taxable year beginning 1995. The rate was determined according to joint regulations under 46 CFR 391.7(e)(2)(ii).
MarAd Regs Spell Out Port Protocol During War Or National Emergency MarAd has issued a final rule which amends the agency's Federal Port Controllers regulations (46 CFR Part 345,346 and 347) and provides a clear definition of Federal Port Controller. These regulations now provide that, when needed upon the deployment of the Armed Forces of the U. S. or other requ i rements of the nation's defense, certain U.S.
port facilities can be controlled and used exclusively by the Federal Government, operating through MarAd, acting as the National Shipping Authority (NSA) during a state of war or national emergency proclaimed by the President. Federal Port Controllers are appointed by MarAd and operate under service agreements.
The regulations (in 46 CFR Part 340) establish procedures for assigning priority for use by defense agencies, wnen appropriate, on commercial terms, of commercial shipping services, containers and chassis, port facilities and services, and for allocating commercial vessels, container and chassis, and port facilities and services for exclusive use by defense agencies.
For additional information, contact John Pisani, Director, Office of Ports and Domestic Shipping, Maritime Administration, Washington, D.C. 20590. Telephone: (202) 366- 4357. This rule has been assigned Docket No. R-155 and becomes effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
