[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 167 (Monday, August 28, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52157-52158]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-21923]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[Docket No. MARAD-2000-7841]


Marine Transport Corporation; Notice of Application for Written 
Permission for Temporary Transfer to the Coastwise Trade

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, Transportation.

ACTION: Notice of application.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 506 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, as 
amended (Act), Marine Transport Corporation (MTC), by letter dated 
August 2, 2000, requests approval of the temporary transfer of the 
integrated tug barge, SMT Chemical Trader, Official Numbers 631332 and 
631333, to the coastwise trade for a period of approximately four 
months beginning between November 1, 2000, and November 18, 2000. (MTC 
advises that because SMT Chemical Trader will be undergoing a required 
drydocking in early November, it is impossible at this time to know 
precisely when it will leave the yard and when the approximately four-
month waiver period, if granted, will begin.)

DATES: You should submit your comments early enough to ensure that 
Docket Management receives them not later than close of business (5 
p.m. edt) September 6, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Your comments should refer to docket number MARAD 2000-7841. 
You may submit your comments in writing to: Docket Clerk, U.S. DOT 
Dockets, Room PL-401, 400 7th St., SW, Washington, DC 20590. You may 
also submit them electronically via the internet at http://dmses.dot.gov/submit.
    You may call Docket Management at (202) 366-9324 and visit the 
Docket Room from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., EST., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal Holidays. An electronic version of this document is available 
on the World Wide Web at http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: You may call Gregory V. Sparkman, 
Chief Division of Maritime Assistance Analysis, (202) 366-2400. You may 
send mail to Gregory V. Sparkman, Chief, Division of Maritime 
Assistance Analysis, Room 8117, Maritime Administration, 400 Seventh 
St., S.W., Washington, DC 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments

    How Do I Prepare and Submit Comments? Your comments must be written 
and in English. To ensure that your comments are correctly filed in the 
Docket, please include the docket number of this document in your 
comments. We encourage you to write your primary comments in a concise 
fashion. However, you may attach necessary additional documents to your 
comments. There is no limit on the length of the attachments. Please 
submit two copies of your comments, including the attachments, to 
Docket Management at the address given above under ADDRESSES.
    If you wish Docket Management to notify you upon its receipt of 
your comments, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard in the 
envelope containing your comments. Docket Management will return the 
postcard by mail.
    How do I submit confidential business information? If you wish to 
submit any information under a claim of confidentiality, you should 
submit three copies of your complete submission, including the 
information you claim to be confidential business information, to the 
Chief Counsel, Maritime Administration, at the address given above 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. You should mark ``CONFIDENTIAL'' 
on each page of the original document that you would like to keep 
confidential. In addition, you should submit two copies, from which you 
have deleted the claimed confidential business information, to Docket 
Management at the address given above under ADDRESSES. When you send 
comments containing information claimed to be confidential business 
information, you should include a cover letter setting forth with 
specificity the basis for any such claim.
    Will the agency consider late comments? We will consider all 
comments that Docket Management receives before the close of business 
on the comment closing date indicated above under DATES. To the extent 
possible, we will also consider comments that Docket Management 
receives after that date.
    How can I read the comments submitted by other people? You may read 
the comments received by Docket Management at the address given above 
under ADDRESSES. The hours of the Docket Room are indicated above in 
the same location. You may also see the comments on the Internet. To 
read the

[[Page 52158]]

comments on the Internet, take the following steps: Go to the Docket 
Management System (DMS) Web page of the Department of Transportation 
(http://dms.dot.gov/). On that page, click on ``search.'' On the next 
page (http://dms.dot.gov/search/), type in the four-digit docket number 
shown at the beginning of this document. The docket number for this 
document is MARAD 2000-7841. After typing the docket number, click on 
``search.'' On the next page, which contains docket summary information 
for the docket you selected, click on the desired comments. You may 
download the comments.

Application Request

    Pursuant to section 506 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, as 
amended (Act), Marine Transport Corporation (MTC), by letter dated 
August 2, 2000, requests approval of the temporary transfer of the 
integrated tug barge, SMT Chemical Trader, Official Numbers 631332 and 
631333, to the coastwise trade for a period of approximately four 
months beginning between November 1, 2000, and November 18, 2000. (MTC 
advises that because SMT Chemical Trader will be undergoing a required 
drydocking in early November, it is impossible at this time to know 
precisely when it will leave the yard and when the approximately four-
month waiver period, if granted, will begin.)
    MTC provides the following statements in its letter dated August 2, 
2000, in support of its request for approval under section 506 of the 
Act:
    MTC is requesting approval of this temporary transfer to replace 
Marine Chemist, Official No. 529399, which is currently scheduled to 
begin its sixth special survey and a major drydocking on or about 
November 15, 2000.
    MTC is requesting permission for a four-month transfer of SMT 
Chemical Trader in order to provide MTC with sufficient time to 
determine whether: (A) it will undertake the drydock needed for Marine 
Chemist to continue to trade after November 30, 2000; or (B) Marine 
Chemist will be laid up, scrapped or retired no later than March 18, 
2001, from Jones Act service (March 18, 2001, is the date upon which 
the Construction-Differential Subsidy contract restrictions which 
currently apply to SMT Chemical Trader expire, leaving the vessel free 
to participate in the Jones Act trade). In no case, however, would the 
two vessels operate in the Jones Act trade at the same time during the 
four-month waiver request period.
    Marine Chemist has a deadweight capacity of approximately 35,000 
tons and is capable of the simultaneous carriage of up to 36 different 
cargoes, some of which require coated tanks, some of which require 
heated tanks, some of which require stainless steel tanks and some of 
which require tanks capable of carrying heavy cargoes with high 
specific gravities. Marine Chemist's unique configuration is required 
for its performance of five long-term contracts of affreightment, some 
of which have terms in excess of six years. Together, these contracts 
utilize approximately 90 percent of the vessel's cargo carrying 
capacity. Marine Chemist also carries small parcel cargoes from time-
to-time. While SMT Chemical Trader is not identical to Marine Chemist, 
MTC believes that SMT Chemical Trader's combination of stainless tanks, 
coated tanks, heavy cargo tanks and her ability to carry a variety of 
cargoes simultaneously make her well suited to stand in for Marine 
Chemist while MTC determines the future of that vessel.
    Because SMT Chemical Trader will only be used during the 
approximately four-month transfer period to perform the contracts of 
affreightment and to carry those parcel cargoes currently carried by 
Marine Chemist, permitting the entry of SMT Chemical Trader into the 
Jones Act will have no competitive impact on that trade. By 
substituting one of its own vessels for Marine Chemist, MTC will be 
able to maintain vital long-term business relationships with customers 
who entered into long-term contracts with MTC with the expectation and 
belief that their cargoes would, throughout the term of the contracts, 
be carried by and under the operational supervision of MTC personnel. 
MTC believes that its safety and operating history is the best in the 
Jones Act chemical trade, and it has developed, over many years, 
procedures, relationships and routines specific to the cargoes carried 
for these customers, all of whom place the highest premium on service 
and safety. MTC also believes that the use of any non-MTC vessels and 
personnel for the performance of MTC's specific contractual obligations 
assigned to Marine Chemist would be at odds with the expectations of 
its customers and a source of genuine concern to them.
    In response to a request by the Maritime Administration, MTC, by 
letter dated August 15, 2000, includes the following information:
    Marine Chemist currently trades between ports in the Gulf of Mexico 
and the West Coast of the United States, including Portland, Oregon, 
San Francisco, and Los Angeles. If the four-month waiver is granted for 
SMT Chemical Trader, it will serve the same geographic area of the 
coast currently served by Marine Chemist.
    This notice is published as a matter of discretion, and the fact of 
its publication should in no way be considered a favorable or 
unfavorable decision on the application, as filed, or as may be 
amended. MARAD will consider all comments submitted in a timely 
fashion, and will take such action as may be deemed appropriate.

    (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program)


    By Order of the Maritime Administrator.

    Dated: August 23, 2000.
Joel C. Richard,
Secretary, Maritime Administration
[FR Doc. 00-21923 Filed 8-25-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4901-81-P