Seaway Regulations and Rules: Periodic Update, Various Categories

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation</SUBAGY> <CFR>33 CFR Part 401</CFR> <RIN>RIN 2135-AA55</RIN> <SUBJECT>Seaway Regulations and Rules: Periodic Update, Various Categories</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, DOT. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS) and the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) of Canada, under international agreement, jointly publish and presently administer the St. Lawrence Seaway Regulations and Rules (Practices and Procedures in Canada) in their respective jurisdictions. Under agreement with the SLSMC, the GLS is amending the joint regulations by updating the regulations and rules in various categories. These changes are to clarify existing requirements in the regulations. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This rule is effective on March 22, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> <E T="03">Docket:</E> For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to <E T="03"> https:// www.Regulations.gov; </E> or in person at the Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-001, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Carrie Mann Lavigne, Chief Counsel, Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, 180 Andrews Street, Massena, New York 13662; (315) 764-3200. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS) and the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) of Canada, under international agreement, jointly publish and presently administer the St. Lawrence Seaway Regulations and Rules (Practices and Procedures in Canada) in their respective jurisdictions. Under agreement with the SLSMC, the GLS is amending the joint regulations by updating the Regulations and Rules in various categories. The changes update the following sections of the Regulations and Rules: Condition of Vessels, Seaway Navigation, Radio Communications, and Information and Reports. These changes are to clarify existing requirements in the regulations. <E T="03">Regulatory Notices: Privacy Act:</E> Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> published on April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78) or you may visit <E T="03">https://www.Regulations.gov.</E> The joint regulations will become effective in Canada on March 22, 2024. For consistency, because these are joint regulations under international agreement, and to avoid confusion among users of the Seaway, the GLS finds that there is good cause to make the U.S. version of the amendments effective on the same date. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Regulatory Evaluation</HD> This regulation involves a foreign affairs function of the United States and therefore, Executive Order 12866 does not apply and evaluation under the Department of Transportation's Regulatory Policies and Procedures is not required. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Regulatory Flexibility Act Determination</HD> I certify that this regulation will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The St. Lawrence Seaway Regulations and Rules primarily relate to commercial users of the Seaway, the vast majority of whom are foreign vessel operators. Therefore, any resulting costs will be borne mostly by foreign vessels. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Environmental Impact</HD> This regulation does not require an environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act (49 U.S.C. 4321, <E T="03">et seq.</E> ) because it is not a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Federalism</HD> The Corporation has analyzed this rule under the principles and criteria in Executive Order 13132, dated August 4, 1999, and has determined that this proposal does not have sufficient federalism implications to warrant a Federalism Assessment. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Unfunded Mandates</HD> The Corporation has analyzed this rule under Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4, 109 Stat. 48) and determined that it does not impose unfunded mandates on State, local, and tribal governments and the private sector requiring a written statement of economic and regulatory alternatives. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Paperwork Reduction Act</HD> This regulation has been analyzed under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and does not contain new or modified information collection requirements subject to the Office of Management and Budget review. <LSTSUB> <HD SOURCE="HED">List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 401</HD> Hazardous materials transportation, Navigation (water), Penalties, Radio, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Vessels, Waterways. </LSTSUB> Accordingly, the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation is amending 33 CFR part 401 as follows: <HD SOURCE="HED">PART 401—SEAWAY REGULATIONS AND RULES</HD> <SUBPART> <HD SOURCE="HED">Subpart A—Regulations</HD> </SUBPART> <REGTEXT TITLE="33" PART="401"> 1. The authority citation for part 401 continues to read as follows: <HD SOURCE="HED">Authority:</HD> 33 U.S.C. 983(a) and 984(a)(4), as amended; 49 CFR 1.101, unless otherwise noted. </REGTEXT> <REGTEXT TITLE="33" PART="401"> 2. Revise § 401.8 to read as follows: <SECTION> <SECTNO>§ 401.8</SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Landing booms.</SUBJECT> (a) Vessels of more than 50 m in overall length and a freeboard of 2m or more shall either be equipped with landing booms or make their own provisions for tie-up at the approach walls. (b) For vessels with landing booms: (1) Vessel must be equipped with an adequate landing boom on each side; (2) Landing booms must be in compliance with applicable regulations; (3) Vessel's crews shall be adequately trained in the use of landing booms for the purpose of landing crew ashore. (4) Vessel must have onboard for inspection the following documents: (i) A copy of the test certificates for each of the landing booms from either a classification society or a third party, dated within 5 years; (ii) Documents to demonstrate appropriate training; (iii) Documented tests and maintenance records of landing boom equipment. (c) At the U.S. Locks, vessels not equipped with or not using landing booms may be tied up at the approach walls based on Lock personnel availability. (d) At the Canadian Locks, vessels not equipped with or not using landing booms should make alternate arrangements for tie-up at approach walls prior to commencing transit of the Seaway. Example: ship contract in place with a 3rd party service provider where ship is responsible for contacting provider. (1) Vessels that do not have a tie-up strategy in place for the lock approach walls may be delayed and/or put to anchor until such time that the traffic pattern can accommodate their transit. (2) [Reserved] </SECTION> </REGTEXT> <REGTEXT TITLE="33" PART="401"> 3. Amend § 401.9 by adding new paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(2) to read as follows: <SECTION> <SECTNO>§ 401.9</SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Radio telephone and navigation equipment.</SUBJECT> (a) * * * (1) All communications shall be on the applicable VHF frequency. The use of personal electronic devices for communication between vessels or with traffic control should be limited to necessity. (2) Please note that communications into the Traffic Control Center may be recorded for quality assurance and training purposes. <STARS/> </SECTION> </REGTEXT> <REGTEXT TITLE="33" PART="401"> 4. Amend § 401.19 by revising paragraph (a) and paragraph (b)(2) to read as follows: <SECTION> <SECTNO>§ 401.19</SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Disposal and Discharge Systems.</SUBJECT> (a) Every vessel not equipped with containers for ordure shall be equipped with a sewage disposal system enabling compliance with the Vessel Pollution and Dangerous Chemicals regulations (Canada), the U.S. Clean Water Act, and the U.S. Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, and amendments thereto. (b) * * * (2) Retained on board in covered, leak-proof containers, until such time as it can be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the Vessel Pollution and Dangerous Chemicals regulations (Canada), the U.S. Clean Water Act and the U.S. Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, and amendments thereto. <STARS/> </SECTION> </REGTEXT> <REGTEXT TITLE="33" PART="401"> 5. Amend § 401.20 by revising paragraph (b)(4) to read as follows: <SECTION> <SECTNO>§ 401.20</SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Automatic Identification System.</SUBJECT> <STARS/> (b) * * * (4) International Maritime Organization (IMO) Guidelines for Installation of Shipborne Automatic Identification System (AIS), NAV 48/18, 6 January 2003, as amended, and, for ocean vessels only, with a pilot plug, as specified in Section 3.2 of those Guidelines, installed close to the primary conning position in the navigation bridge and a power source accessible for the pilot's laptop computer; and <STARS/> </SECTION> </REGTEXT> <REGTEXT TITLE="33" PART="401"> 6. Amend § 401.29 by revising paragraphs (b) and (c) to read as follows: <SECTION> <SECTNO>§ 401.29</SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Maximum draft.</SUBJECT> <STARS/> (b) The draught of a vessel shall meet minimum draft requirements as defined at ins ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 19k characters. 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