U.S. Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston issued an initial certificate of inspection (COI) to the towboat Sacred Heart earlier this month, the first COI issued under Subchapter M towing regulations in the USCG's 8th District.

The 74'x28', 2,000-hp, Sacred Heart is owned and operated by Marquette Transportation Company LLC.

All towing vessels are required to comply with Subchapter M by July 20.

Subchapter M resources, checklists, job aids and more can be found on the Towing Vessel National Center of Expertise's website.

David Krapf has been editor of WorkBoat, the nation’s leading trade magazine for the inland and coastal waterways industry, since 1999. He is responsible for overseeing the editorial direction of the publication. Krapf has been in the publishing industry since 1987, beginning as a reporter and editor with daily and weekly newspapers in the Houston area. He also was the editor of a transportation industry daily in New Orleans before joining WorkBoat as a contributing editor in 1992. He has been covering the transportation industry since 1989, and has a degree in business administration from the State University of New York at Oswego, and also studied journalism at the University of Houston.