As of October 22, 2022, the National Towing Safety Advisory Committee (NTSAC) have five (5) subcommittees working on task statements involving key issues affecting the commercial towing sector. Each subcommittee will prepare & submit a report w/recommendations to the U.S. Coast Guard for consideration in development of regulations, policy or other guidance.
Note: For each task, the cognizant NTSAC subcommittee is either presently preparing a draft report or has already submitted one (see the section entitled "Draft and/or Interim Final Reports" below). Each draft report is presented to the full Committee for review & comment. Once TSAC has approved a final report for submission (w/NTSAC Chair or Co-Chair endorsement), a final, smooth report w/recommendations is submitted to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The task statements (w/attached .pdf copies) are as follows:
1) NTSAC Task Statement 16-01 - "Recommendations on the Implementation of 46 CFR, Subchapter M - Inspection and Certification of Towing Vessels" (Short Title: Subchapter M Implementation). This is considering a ongoing work effort for NTSAC. Several tasks have been completed to date, the most recent being Task Statement 21-01), entitled "Criteria Used to Apply the Term "Occasional Towing" (Short Title: Occasional Towing). NTSAC has been asked to examine other subchapters within Title 46 (e.g., "L" & "N") & determine what operational & safety requirements, specific to towing, apply to vessels regardless of what subchapter they are inspected & certificated under.
1) NTSAC Task Statement 21-03 - "Report of the Anticipated Challenges Expected to Impact the Towing Vessel Industry (Short Title: Towing Vessel Industry Forecast)
2) NTSAC Task Statement 21-04 - "Report on the Challenges Faced by the Towing Vessel Industry as a Result of the COVID19 Pandemic (Short Title: COVID-19 Impact)
3) NTSAC Task Statement 22-01 - "Report on Recommendations to Coast Guard for Rulemaking Improvements to Subchaper M (Short Title: Subchapter M Improvement Recommendations). This task was presented & accepted at the 2022 Spring NTSAC Virtual Meeting.
4) NTSAC Task Statement 22-02 - "Recommendations for Training and Instruction for Crewmembers Working on Subchapter M-Inspected Towing Vessels (Short Title: Crewmember Training). This task was presented & accepted at the 2022 Spring NTSAC Virtual Meeting.
5) NTSAC Task Statement XX-XX - "Report of the Accuracy and Valdity of Towing Examination Questions (Short Title: Towing Exam Questions). This proposed task was presented at the 2022 Spring NTSAC Virtual Meeting. It is currently undergoing review by the NTSAC Vetting Committee.
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**Draft Final Reports:
As of October 25, 2022, the National Towing Safety Advisory Committee (NTSAC) have provided one (1) smooth final report to the Coast Guard.
1) NTSAC Task Statement 21-01 - "Recommendations for the Criteria Used to Apply the Term "Occasional Towing" (Short Title: Occasional Towing). A Final report was presented to TSAC at Spring 20220 Teleconference. A smooth final report has been signed by the Subcommittee Chairman & is awaiting endorsement by the NTSAC Chairman or Vice-Chairman for formal acceptance by the Coast Guard.
**Reports will remain in draft final status until they have been formally acknowledged as received by the Coast guard (via "Flag Letter" to TSAC) and distributed to the appropriate headquarter staffs for action. In addition to the information displayed in this folder, copies of the draft final reports are located in the NTSAC Public Meeting folder under the Meetings/Minutes sub-directory.
Attachments: .PDF copies of the current NTSAC Tasks & smoth or draft final reports are presented on the right side of this page.
