Supporting Statement

for

Voyage Planning for Tank Barge Transits in the Northeast United States

OMB No.: 1625-0088

COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS:  Instruction 

A.  Justification.

1)  Circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.  

A permanent regulated navigation area (RNA) is established within the
geographic boundaries of the First Coast Guard District (northeast
region of the U.S.) to increase the operational safety of towing vessels
and tank barges.  The information collection requirements described in
this supporting statement are necessary to comply with 33 CFR
165.100(d)(3).  The U.S. Coast Guard requires any owner or operator of a
towing vessel, which is engaged in towing a tank barge, to prepare a
written voyage plan prior to departure.  

These recordkeeping requirements are largely consistent with good
commercial practices and the dictates of good seamanship for safe
navigation.  Furthermore, the voyage plan provides a mechanism for
assisting masters of towing vessels in identifying those specific risks,
potential equipment failures, or human errors that may lead to an
incident.  Without an information collection, there would be reduced
means for the owner or operator of a towing vessel to be held
accountable for adequate navigational practices.

This information collection supports the following strategic goals:

Department of Homeland Security

Prevention

Protection

Recovery

Coast Guard

Marine Safety

Protection of Natural Resources

Prevention Policy & Response Policy Directorates (CG-5P & CG-5R)

Safety:  Eliminate deaths, injuries, and property damage associated with
commercial maritime operations.

Human and Natural Environment: Eliminate environmental damage associated
with maritime transportation and operations on and around the nation’s
waterways.

2)  Purpose of the information collection.  

Accidents sometimes occur because towing vessels lack appropriate voyage
planning.  The information collection aids safe passage by ensuring that
the crew will properly plan for the anticipated voyage.  The master of
the towing vessel that is engaged in towing a tank barge will develop
the content of the voyage plan prior to the voyage.  The master is also
responsible for ensuring that the voyage plan is followed, or, if
deviations from the plan are made during the voyage, that the plan is
modified to a safe and appropriate alternative.  The voyage plan must be
in written or electronic form, be retained onboard the vessel, and be
readily available to the Coast Guard upon request.  Voyage plans also
serve as a means for Coast Guard inspectors/investigators to determine
if a vessel is in compliance or, in the case of a casualty, whether
failure to meet this regulation contributed to the casualty.  

3)  Consideration of the use of improved information technology.  

This requirement does not restrict the voyage plan to paper format. 
Electronic files are allowed and would reduce the physical volume of
records on the vessel.  We estimate that 50% of respondents maintain
their voyage plans electronically.

4)  Efforts to identify duplication.  

There are no State or local regulations relating to this issue.  No
similar information collection is conducted by other Federal agencies.  

5)  Methods to minimize the burden to small businesses if involved.  

This information collection does not have an impact on small businesses
or other small entities.  

6)  Consequences to the Federal program if collection were conducted
less frequently.  

If the collection was conducted less frequently, compliance with the
voyage plan requirement may not be verifiable.  Although the Coast Guard
believes that most prudent operators already employ many of these safety
principles, the regulations are intended to ensure compliance by those
vessels not conforming to the safety practices of the majority of the
industry.

7)  Special collection circumstances.  

This information collection is conducted in manner consistent with the
guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

8)  Consultation.  

A 60-Day Notice (See [USCG-2015-0636], August 13, 2015, 80 FR 48552) and
30-Day Notice (XX XX, 2015, 80 FR XXXXX) were published in the Federal
Register to obtain public comment on this collection.  The Coast Guard
has not received any comments on this information collection.     

  

9)  Provide any payments or gifts to respondents.  

There is no offer of monetary or material value for this information
collection.

10)  Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents. 


There are no assurances of confidentiality provided to the respondents
for this information collection.

11)  Additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature.  

There are no questions of sensitive language.

12)  Estimates of hour and cost burdens to respondents.  

The estimated number of annual respondents is 1,759. 

The estimated number of annual responses is 1,759.

The estimated hour burden is 880 hours.

The estimated cost burden is $73,040.

The burden to respondents is provided in Appendix A.  We estimate that
it will take the master of the towing vessel about 0.5 hour to prepare a
voyage plan.  The position of a master is analogous to a GS-13.  The
wage rate used is in accordance with the current edition of COMDTINST
7310.1(series) for “Out-Government” personnel.  

We estimate the number of voyage plans (i.e., voyages) based on U.S.
Army Corp of Engineers data.  We assume that a certain percentage of
voyages are petroleum-laden.  Additionally, we assume that a certain
percentage of voyage plans would be developed without this regulation
(I.e., voluntarily compliance).  To estimate the number of voyage plans
for this collection, we multiply the estimated annual number of voyages
times the percentage of voyages that are petroleum-laden times the
required compliance percentage to obtain the number of required voyage
plans.  

13)  Estimates of annualized capital and start-up costs.  

There are no capital, start-up or maintenance costs associated with this
information collection.  

14)  Estimates of annualized Federal Government costs.  

The estimated annual Federal Government cost is $780 (see Appendix B). 
The cost is based on Coast Guard personnel reviews of the voyage plans
during periodic inspections, random boardings, and post-casualty
investigations.  We estimate 100 reviews per year, conducted by a
Lieutenant (LT, O-3) at 6 minutes (0.1 hours) per review.  The wage
rate used is in accordance with the current edition of COMDTINST
7310.1(series) for “In-Government” personnel.

15)  Explain the reasons for the change in burden.  

The change (i.e., decrease) in burden is an ADJUSTMENT due to a decrease
in the estimated annual number of responses.  There is no proposed
change to the recordkeeping requirements of this collection.  The
recordkeeping requirements remain unchanged.  

16)  Plans for tabulation, statistical analysis, and publication.  

This information collection will not be published for statistical
purposes.

17)  Approval to not display expiration date.  

The Coast Guard will display the expiration date for OMB approval of
this information collection. 

18)  Explain each exception to the certification statement.  

The Coast Guard does not request an exception to the certification of
this information collection.

B.  Collection of Information Employing Statistical Method.

This information collection does not employ statistical methods.

  The Title 33 CFR Part 165 statutory authorities are 33 U.S.C. 1231, 46
U.S.C. 3306, 3307 & Chapter 701, and 50 U.S.C. 191 & 195.  

  Waterborne Commerce of the United States, Calendar Years 2010, 2011 &
2012, for selected ports in the New England District and New York, NY
District.  

1625-0088  

 PAGE   4 

  PAGE  3  of   NUMPAGES  3 

