Letter to the Editor from the AWO

Dear Editor,

As an organization that has been working with the U.S. Coast Guard for more than eight years to bring about a modern and effective inspection regime for towing vessels, The American Waterways Operators was very disappointed by the tone of Kevin Gilheany’s August 18 article, “Coast Guard Set to Crack Down on Towing Industry Safety.” Indeed, it stands in stark contrast to your August 11 article in Maritime Executive titled “Historic New Towing Vessel Inspection Program Hailed by Vessel Operators as Enhancing Safety.”  This earlier article correctly reports that in 2003 AWO went hand-in-hand with the Coast Guard to ask Congress to require the inspection of towing vessels and establish a safety management system requirement because we wanted to raise the bar of safety for the entire industry.  The August 18 article misses this foundational fact entirely. 
 
The members of AWO have been on a continuous safety journey since the mid-1990s.  In 1994, AWO adopted the Responsible Carrier Program, an award-winning, third-party-audited safety management system that in 2000 became a condition of AWO membership.  Since 1994, the tugboat, towboat and barge industry has made great strides in enhancing safety, achieving record low crew fatalities and oil spills in 2010, the last year for which complete statistics are available.  However, AWO members believe that one fatality and one oil spill are too many.  We can and must do better.  That is precisely why AWO supported the Coast Guard in requesting the statutory authority to develop an inspection program for towing vessels -- because we believed, and still do, that it is the right next step to raise the bar of safety, security and environmental stewardship for the tugboat, towboat and barge industry, a vital segment of the U.S. transportation industry.  In fact, the leadership of the Coast Guard and AWO in bringing about this historic change was recently recognized by National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman in her blog, the NTSB Safety Compass: http://safetycompass.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/staying-cool-and-getting-safer/.

AWO will participate actively in the regulatory process and work with the Coast Guard to perfect the notice of proposed rulemaking so that it achieves its goal of making our industry safer as it reliably carries the nation’s cargo, thus benefiting America’s economy, environment and quality of life.

Sincerely,

Thomas A. Allegretti
President & CEO
The American Waterways Operators

Read Kevin Gilheany’s article here.

Read the Coast Guard's article here.