Effective immediately, the US Coast Guard has amended the requirements regulating personnel permitted to serve as a person in charge (PIC) of fuel oil transfers on an inspected vessel by adding the option of using a letter of designation (LOD) in lieu of a Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC) with a Tankerman-PIC endorsement.
The LOD designates the holder as a person in charge (PIC) of the transfer of fuel oil and states that the holder has received sufficient formal instruction from the operator or agent of the vessel to ensure his or her ability to safely and adequately carry out the duties and responsibilities of the PIC.
Obtaining an MMC with a Tankerman-PIC endorsement is now optional for PICs of fuel oil transfers on inspected vessels. This rule does not change the existing requirements for the PIC on uninspected vessels, and the requirements for vessels transferring cargo also remains unchanged.
As USCG saidm, thousands of towing vessels are currently transitioning from being uninspected vessels to becoming inspected vessels.[4] While this rule is not limited to towing vessels, it will allow a PIC currently using the LOD option on one of those uninspected towing vessels to continue to use that option to perform the same fuel oil transfers once the vessel becomes an inspected vessel. This transition happens when the vessel is issued a certificate of inspection (COI).
We are making this rule effective upon publication because it relieves a restriction and 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1) does not require us to wait 30 days before we make such rules effective
USCG concluded.
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