Editorial: River Dilemma: Are We Repopulating The Species, Or Not?

There is a Coast Guard regulatory deadline fast approaching. Come May 21, 2006, every towing vessel must have a Master on board when operating. The Operator of Uninspected Towing Vessels (OUTV) license will have passed into history.

Born of blood and oil, the OUTV license came into being in 1972, the child of a congressional mandate to address a series of towboat accidents. Those who were already operating uninspected towboats were allowed to grandfather into the new license.

History has a way of repeating itself. The Sunset Limited accident in 1993 sired a mandate for higher standards for licensing towboat operators. A new towing license scheme went into effect in May 2001. The regulatory process was lengthy and involved, so much so that many in the towing industry lost track of the practical effects of the new system of licenses. The devil is in the details. Owing to various grandfathering provisions, the rule for the new towing licenses did not take full effect until May 2004. The last Operator’s license remains valid until May 2006. Perhaps we should identify the last of the breed and hold a ceremony.

As in 1972, rivermen who hold a valid OUTV license are simply grandfathered to the new Master of Towing Vessels license. But practical problems arise when considering where the next generation of towboat operators is going to come from and how they are going to earn the title of “Captain.”

Under the old system, the Coast Guard demanded a minimum amount of experience, physical fitness, completion of certain administrative requirements and tested professional knowledge. The new license system continues to do so but adds a requirement for a documented, onboard training program to insure that the candidate for a navigating license possesses the skills necessary to safely operate a towboat. Only those who hold the new Steersman license can be trained to operate a towing vessel. This training program is mandated to take at least 360 “days.” (Since service time is based on eight-hour days, there is a significant difference between service on line boats and service on harbor boats. Line boat time is credited at 1.5 days for each 12-hour day; harbor boat time is not.) The new Pilot license requires the demonstration of skills before a Designated Examiner (DE) drawn from the ranks of experienced towboat captains who have themselves been certified by the Coast Guard. A pilot can stand watch unsupervised but cannot be the captain on the boat. A pilot who aspires to become a captain must complete an additional 540 days of service as pilot in order to apply for a Master of Towing Vessels license.

Harbor boats don’t have a pilot position. To operate a harbor boat, a steersman must train for at least 540 days and demonstrate skills before a DE to earn a Master (Limited) license with a mileage restriction. Steersmen who train on line boats and earn a Pilot license can receive an endorsement as Master (Limited) to operate a harbor boat. Are you confused yet?

The onboard training program effectively creates a two-year pipeline for producing new pilots. A sharp riverman is going to take about six years to work up the ranks to master—not much different than in the past. Harbor boat operators find a significant difference in their service time, however. Under the old rules, a riverman holding a Master 100T/200T license could operate a harbor boat within a mileage restricted route. The Master 100T/200T license required 360 days of service. The new Master (Limited) of Towing Vessels requires 1,080 days of service. The training pipeline for harbor boats is now somewhere between two and three years long depending upon the individual’s schedule.

The length of the required service while holding a Steersman license has a practical impact on a company’s planning horizon. Under the old licensing system, six months would do to identify an individual and provide some wheelhouse training time prior to sitting for a license. A planning horizon of at least two years is now needed, plus the means to provide on-board training and formal assessments.

Each company that intends to train steersmen will need DEs to conduct assessments. The breadth of the skill areas to be assessed make it impractical to hire a DE to conduct “check rides.” According to the Coast Guard’s policy guidance, skill assessment is intended to be a process, not an event.

According to Coast Guard data, there are between 12,000 and 15,000 people who hold licenses to operate towing vessels. (There are lots of cross-authorities and people who hold more than one kind of license.) How many steersmen should there be in the training pipeline? What is the attrition rate in the towing industry? Will the industry’s wheelhouse personnel needs expand, contract or remain the same for the next two/three years? Easy answers to those questions do not exist. Pick your own number and then compare it to the number of Steersman licenses issued as of January 2006: just over 300, nationwide.

There is a danger that the towing industry, for any number of reasons, is not “repopulating the species” and that the availability of licensed personnel to operate towboats will soon become a limiting factor. (Many will argue that it already is.) There may have been some temporary relief recently granted in the form of hurricanes and seasonal slowdowns. But crewing up for the next busy operating season may well reveal a manning crisis, which will not be easily remedied. Any measures taken today to identify additional wheelhouse personnel won’t take effect for another two years.

A bidding war is probably inevitable in the short term as companies attempt to simply hire people who already hold the license. Day rates are already on the rise, reaching $400/day in some areas. But this will likely prove futile in the long run. Recent changes in the procedures and security screening required to renew a towing license are likely to reduce the number of people holding those licenses. The pool of qualified towing license holders is shrinking, not expanding.

There are no easy solutions to this industry-wide problem. Will the Coast Guard simply turn back the clock to the good old days? We judge that unlikely. This is a problem that will have to be solved from within and the sooner we get started, the better.

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