Public Meeting, Notice of Arrival & Departure

The U.S. Coast Guard will hold a public meeting scheduled for March 5, at Coast Guard Headquarters, 2100 2nd St., SW, Washington, from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. to accept comments on a proposed rulemaking to amend Coast Guard regulations governing Notice of Arrival and Departure and Automatic Identification System requirements.

The proposed rule, published in the Federal Register Dec. 16, 2008, would expand the applicability of Notice of Arrival and Departure and Automatic Identification System requirements to include more commercial vessels, modify Notice of Arrival and Departure reporting requirements, establish a mandatory method for electronic data submission and would establish a separate requirement for certain vessels to submit notices of departure. Under this proposed rule the applicability of Automatic Identification System requirements would be extended beyond Vessel Traffic Service areas to all U.S. navigable waters.

The Coast Guard plans to make an audio recording of the meeting available through a link in their online rulemaking docket. The comment period on the proposed rule closes April 15.

The proposed rule is expected to enhance existing Notice of Arrival and Departure regulations that provide the Coast Guard with vessel, passenger, crew and cargo information about ships coming to our ports up to 96 hours before the vessel arrives. Existing Automatic Identification System regulations that provide automatically-broadcast dynamic, static and voyage-related vessel information such as position, course and speed also are expected to be augmented.

The Coast Guard encourages the public to participate in this rulemaking by attending the public meeting or by submitting comments and related materials to the online docket at www.regulations.gov, docket number: USCG-2005-21869. All comments received will be posted.