Petition seeks to change how USCG handles foreign rebuild determinations

Many in the U.S. shipbuilding industry find the Coast Guard’s logic in determining what constitutes a foreign rebuild to be weird, if not perverse. For instance, in one case, a new inner double hull was not considered a “major component” because it was added piece-by piece.

Now Marc J. Fink, on behalf of a coalition of maritime organizations, is petitioning the Coast Guard to amend 46 CFR 67.177, Application for foreign rebuilding determination.

The Coast Guard is seeking public comments on the petition and will consider all comments received as part of its determination on whether or not to initiate the requested rulemaking.

The petition requests that the Coast Guard

• Amend major-component test provisions in paragraph (a)
• Amend considerable-parts test provisions in paragraph (b)
• Amend criteria for when vessels altered outside the United States must submit material to the National Vessel Document Center (NVDC) and what materials must be submitted in paragraph (e),
• Amend preliminary rebuilt determinations application requirements in paragraph (g)
• Add a new paragraph (h) requiring the Coast Guard to publish Federal Register notices of applications for a preliminary or final rebuilt determination and to establish procedures that would allow anyone to appeal these application decisions to the Coast Guard Commandant, and
• Add a paragraph (i) requiring the owner of a vessel that is eligible to engage in the coastwise trades that had any work performed on that vessel at a facility outside the United States to submit U.S. Customs and Border Protection Form 226, Record of Vessel Foreign Repair or Equipment Purchase, to the Commandant within 30 days of redelivery of the vessel after such work was completed.

If you want to comment, you could start HERE

February 25, 2011