Current Affairs

PVA opposes training course proposal

The regulatory hits just keep on coming.

Among the latest under consideration by the Coast Guard is a mandatory 32-hour training course for facility security officers.

The Passenger Vessel Association said the proposal is way out of bounds. Citing the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 that deals with facility security officer training, PVA noted that many of the topics are irrelevant to passenger vessels.

Cargo theft, for example, is hardly a problem for domestic passenger vessels “since they rarely, if ever, carry cargo,” PVA said in its comments filed for the record. On passenger vessels, also there’s usually no containers, hazardous cargo or a need to be concerned about shore leave for mariners because most go home each day.

What’s more, many facilities provide security under an alternative program approved by the Coast Guard, PVA said. And the trade group questions whether there’s any evidence that security has been compromised or is ineffective because current officers haven’t taken a training course.

The draft model course comes down too hard on small businesses, a category that includes many passenger vessel operators, PVA said. “The Coast Guard is legally obligated to make a good faith analysis of the economic impact of a proposed mandatory [officer] training course on small entities.”

Ticking off other recent mandates including TWIC, the biggest thorn in everyone’s side, PVA said, “The cumulative impact of all these regulatory initiatives is staggering.”

Others that weighed in with objections or questions about the proposal included the Baltimore International Seafarers’ Center, the marine division of the King County [Seattle] Department of Transportation, and the Casco Bay Transit District, Portland, Maine.

The proposal and comments are available at www.regulations.gov; enter USCG-2012-0908. The deadline for comments was Nov. 23.