CG Seeks Input On Chart, Equipment Carriage Requirements

The Coast Guard announced in the Federal Register that it is seeking public input regarding the modification of the chart and navigational equipment carriage requirements in the Code of Federal Regulations.

This advance notice of proposed rulemaking outlines the Coast Guard’s broad strategy to revise its chart and navigational equipment carriage requirements to implement statutory electronic-chart-use provisions for commercial U.S.-flagged vessels and certain foreign-flagged vessels operating in the waters of the United States. 

According to John Stone, a marine transportation specialist at the Office of Navigation Systems in the Coast Guard, the purpose of the notice is to gather more information about how electronic charts and navigational equipment are being used by commercial vessels, especially those that carry passengers. The National Oceanic and Aeronautic Administration is in the middle of a five-year program to reduce the use of paper charts and replace them with electronic downloads. The program runs through 2025. 

The Coast Guard said the ANPRM will allow it to verify the extent of the requirements for the rule, such as how widely electronic charts currently are used, which types of vessels are using them, the appropriate equipment requirements for different vessel classes and where the vessels operate.

The information will allow the Coast Guard to tailor electronic chart requirements to vessel class and location.

Comments and related material must be received by the Coast Guard on or before June 27, 2022.

Interested parties may submit comments identified by docket number USCG-2021-0291 using the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov.