MaritimeFedWatch

On November 12, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware affirmed the broad authority of the Coast Guard to carry out examinations of foreign vessels in U.S. waters, to interview vessel personnel on board, and to impose conditions on the clearance of a vessel suspected of violating the U.S. Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, abbreviated as “APPS.” That statute implements into U.S. law the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, commonly known as “MARPOL.”

On October 15, 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury convened the first meeting of the Counter-Hizballah International Partnership (“CHIP”) with the goal of building multilateral cooperation to target and dismantle global financial networks used by Hizballah to fund its agenda.

On July 26, 2019, the U.S. Coast Guard issued Policy Letter No. 01-19 outlining the Coast Guard’s proposed acceptance of testing protocols for ballast water management systems (BWMS) that render “nonviable” (meaning “permanently incapable of reproduction”) organisms in ballast water. 

On July 12, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (H.R. 2500) which would reauthorize the existing Maritime Security Program and newly authorize similar programs for tank vessels and cable vessels.

On June 10, 2019, a unanimous Supreme Court held that State laws are only applicable on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) as a surrogate federal law when federal law does not address a specific issue.

The U.S. Coast Guard recently released a Marine Safety Information Bulletin alerting the maritime industry to recent cyberattacks against commercial vessels and reminded vessel owners, operators, and masters of the regulatory requirement to report suspicious activity and breaches of security to the Coast Guard National Response Center (NRC) in accordance with maritime security regulations.

On May 15, 2019, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation included an offshore wind-related amendment in the pending Maritime Administration Authorization and Enhancement Act which the Committee reported favorably for Senate consideration.

Today the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) published two Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemaking seeking public comment on how to improve the process of demonstrating U.S. citizenship for certain maritime programs.

President Trump signed the “Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018” into law on December 4, 2018. The Act was passed by the U.S. Senate on November 14 and the U.S. House of Representatives on November 27. 

On June 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court announced a decision in the case of Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission that could have a significant impact on all federal administrative law judges, including the Coast Guard and Federal Maritime Commission ALJs.

On May 17, 2018, the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President issued a public request for information or RFI “seeking public input on how the Federal government may prudently manage regulatory costs imposed on the maritime sector.” Comments are due July 16, 2018.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a notice in the Federal Register on April 6, 2018 requesting public feedback on identification of new U.S. East Coast offshore areas for wind energy development. Comments are due by May 21, 2018.

U.S. maritime laws generally referred to as the “Jones Act” restrict U.S. domestic commerce to U.S.-built vessels. Once qualified, a U.S.-built vessel can lose its eligibility to participate in U.S. domestic commerce permanently if it is considered “rebuilt” outside the United States. Because the rules governing what constitutes “U.S.-built” and “rebuilt” are technical, and the consequences of not meeting the standards can be financially catastrophic for a vessel owner, the Coast Guard has a regulatory process where it provides advance guidance confirming that a prospective project satisfies the applicable criteria. On July 25 and July 28, 2017, the Coast Guard issued build and rebuild determinations, respectively, that provide the latest guidance on those criteria.

On April 18, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13788 to promote greater enforcement of U.S. buy American laws. On June 30, 2017, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney issued a memorandum for all executive agencies ordering that certain steps be taken to comply with the Buy American Executive Order.  

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2018 (H.R. 2810), reported favorably by the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on June 28, 2017, would amend existing law to permit the acquisition of foreign-built vessels for the U.S. fleet of military reserve vessels.

The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) commissioned a “Maritime Alignment Study” from the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) in May 2017. It is anticipated that the results of the study will be made public in the fall of 2017.

On May 24, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2017, H.R. 2518. That bill, like other Coast Guard authorization legislation, seeks to make maritime policy changes in addition to authorizing Coast Guard functions. A similar bill, S. 1129, was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee on May 18.

On January 18, 2017, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) proposed revising almost 30 Jones Act interpretive rulings going back to 1976. CBP’s proposal could have had a substantial effect on offshore oil and gas and other operations. Comments were due on April 18, 2017. On May 10, 2017, CBP withdrew the proposal.

On January 23, 2017, the U.S. Coast Guard issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to update the monetary property damage threshold amount for reporting a marine casualty from the current level of $25,000 to $72,000. The NPRM further proposes to update the threshold for serious marine incidents requiring post-incident drug and alcohol testing from the current level of $100,000 to $200,000.

On January 18, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued an opinion upholding the District Court’s dismissal of various shippers’ federal antitrust and state law claims against a large group of roll-on/roll-off ocean common carriers, holding that the Shipping Act of 1984 both precluded private plaintiffs from using the federal anti-trust laws for relief from such claims, and pre-empted similar state law claims under the circumstances.