William Mahoney News

The perennial “Year of Subchapter M” has been kicked forward again, this time to February 2016. That means that the clock is now ticking loudly for those towing operations that have yet to climb onboard the safety train. Quality operators see standardized safety practices as a way of leveling the playing field, integral to maintaining the health and profitability of their fleets, and key to winning business from quality customers. Subchapter M will be a phased-in over a period of years. It’s not as much time as you think.

Since 1996, Safety Management Systems, LLC (SMSLLC) has provided consulting services to the global maritime, transportation and related industries. Public and private sector clients turn to SMSLLC to bring effective solutions to a range of challenges. SMSLLC has established a reputation as a client-focused consultancy that creates results as lasting solutions. SMS LLC, with years of crafting ISM, ISO and management system solutions to U.S,-based blue water clients, will formulate subM compliance solutions designed specifically for each individual client.

Global reach, inland and bulk handling expertise, domestic acquisitions and new U.S. Coast Guard approvals all team up to make ClassNK a logical choice to help solve your emerging subchapter M problems. That’s just the beginning. America’s Inland operators, faced with the coming scrutiny of Coast Guard subchapter M regulations, have also stood largely on the sidelines as service providers announce one subM solution after another. Software providers, consultants and marine surveyors all claim to have the answers to a problem that has not yet arrived because the U.S. Coast Guard’s preliminary language has not yet been approved. In the meantime, there is a new kid in town.

Regulation shapes the workboat industry perhaps more than any other single factor. This regulatory seascape includes a myriad of onerous and ever-changing rules. A ‘SITREP’ on those choppy waters is therefore in order. Last December, the Coast Guard closed the public comment period following its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) requiring nearly all towing vessels to obtain Certificates of Inspection under Subchapter M of CFR 46. The Coast Guard’s Towing Vessel National Center of Expertise (NCE) estimates that there are 5,800 U.S.