[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 13 (Friday, January 18, 2002)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 2616-2618]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-1371]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

33 CFR Part 167

[USCG-2001-11201]


Port Access Routes Study; Along the Sea Coast and in the 
Approaches to the Cape Fear River and Beaufort Inlet, NC

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of study; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is conducting a Port Access Routes Study 
(PARS) to evaluate the need for vessel routing or other vessel traffic 
management measures along the sea coast of North Carolina and in the 
approaches to the Cape Fear River and Beaufort Inlet. The goal of the 
study is to help reduce the risk of marine casualties and increase 
vessel traffic management efficiency in the study area. The 
recommendations of the study may lead to future rulemaking action or 
appropriate international agreements.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before March 19, 2002.

ADDRESSES: To make sure that your comments and related material are not 
entered more than once in the docket, please submit them by only one of 
the following means:
    (1) By mail to the Docket Management Facility (USCG-2001-11201), 
U.S. Department of Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    (2) By delivery to room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif 
Building, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone 
number is 202-366-9329.
    (3) By fax to the Docket Management Facility at 202-493-2251.
    (4) Electronically through the Web Site for the Docket Management 
System at http://dms.dot.gov.
    The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this 
document. Comments and material received from the public, as well as 
documents mentioned in this preamble as being available in the docket, 
will

[[Page 2617]]

become part of this docket and will be available for inspection or 
copying at room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 
Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays. You may also find this docket 
on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice 
of study, call Tom Flynn, Project Officer, Aids to Navigation and 
Waterways Management Branch, Fifth Coast Guard District, telephone 757-
398-6229, e-mail [email protected]; or George Detweiler, Office 
of Vessel Traffic Management, Coast Guard, telephone 202-267-0574, e-
mail [email protected]. If you have questions on viewing or 
submitting material to the docket, call Dorothy Beard, Chief, Dockets, 
Department of Transportation, telephone 202-366-5149.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comments

    We encourage you to participate in this study by submitting 
comments and related material. If you do so, please include your name 
and address, identify the docket number for this notice of study (USCG-
2001-11201), indicate the specific section of this document to which 
each comment applies, and give the reason for each comment. You may 
submit your comments and material by mail, hand delivery, fax, or 
electronic means to the Docket Management Facility at the address under 
ADDRESSES; but please submit your comments and material by only one 
means. If you submit them by mail or hand delivery, submit them in an 
unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for 
copying and electronic filing. If you submit them by mail and would 
like to know that they reached the Facility, please enclose a stamped, 
self-addressed postcard or envelope. We will consider all comments and 
material received during the comment period.

Public Meeting

    We do not now plan to hold a public meeting. But you may submit a 
request for one to the Docket Management Facility at the address under 
ADDRESSES explaining why one would be beneficial. If we determine that 
one would aid this study, we will hold one at a time and place 
announced by a later notice in the Federal Register.

Definitions

    The following definitions should help you review this notice:
    Area to be avoided (ATBA) means a routing measure comprising an 
area within defined limits in which either navigation is particularly 
hazardous or it is exceptionally important to avoid casualties and 
which should be avoided by all ships, or certain classes of ships.
    Deep-water route is a route within defined limits, which has been 
accurately surveyed for clearance of sea bottom, and submerged 
obstacles as indicated on nautical charts.
    Inshore traffic zone is a routing measure comprising a designated 
area between the landward boundary of a traffic separation scheme and 
the adjacent coast, to be used in accordance with the provisions of 
Rule 10(d), as amended, of the International Regulations for Preventing 
Collisions at Sea, 1972 (COLREGS).
    Precautionary area means a routing measure comprising an area 
within defined limits where ships must navigate with particular caution 
and within which the direction of traffic flow may be recommended.
    Recommended route means a route of undefined width, for the 
convenience of ships in transit, which is often marked by centerline 
buoys.
    Recommended track is a route which has been specifically examined 
to ensure so far as possible that it is free of dangers and along which 
ships are advised to navigate.
    Regulated Navigation Area (RNA) is a water area within a defined 
boundary for which regulations for vessels navigating within the area 
have been established under 33 CFR part 165.
    Roundabout is a routing measure comprising a separation point or 
circular separation zone and a circular separation zone and a circular 
traffic lane within defined limits. Traffic within the roundabout is 
separated by moving in a counterclockwise direction around the 
separation point or zone.
    Separation zone or separation line means a zone or line separating 
the traffic lanes in which ships are proceeding in opposite or nearly 
opposite directions; or from the adjacent sea area; or separating 
traffic lanes designated for particular classes of ships proceeding in 
the same direction.
    Traffic lane means an area within defined width in which one-way 
traffic is established. Natural obstacles, including those forming 
separation zones, may constitute a boundary.
    Traffic separation scheme (TSS) means a routing measure aimed at 
the separation of opposing streams of traffic by appropriate means and 
by the establishment of traffic lanes.
    Two-way route is a route within defined limits inside which two-way 
traffic is established, aimed at providing safe passage of ships 
through waters where navigation is difficult or dangerous.
    Vessel routing system means any system of one or more routes or 
routing measures aimed at reducing the risk of casualties; it includes 
traffic separation schemes, two-way routes, recommended tracks, areas 
to be avoided, inshore traffic zones, roundabouts, precautionary areas, 
and deep-water routes.

Background and Purpose

    Port Access Route Study Requirements. Under the Ports and Waterways 
Safety Act (PWSA), the Secretary of Transportation may designate 
necessary fairways and TSS's to provide safe access routes for vessels 
proceeding to and from U.S. ports (33 U.S.C. 1223 (c)). The Secretary's 
authority to make these designations was delegated to the Commandant, 
U.S. Coast Guard, in 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1.46. The 
designation of fairways and TSS's recognizes the paramount right of 
navigation over all other uses in the designated areas.
    The PWSA requires the Coast Guard to conduct a study of port-access 
routes before establishing or adjusting fairways or TSS's. Through the 
study process, we must coordinate with Federal, State, and foreign 
state agencies (as appropriate) and consider the views of maritime 
community representatives, environmental groups, and other interested 
stakeholders. A primary purpose of this coordination is, to the extent 
practicable, to reconcile the need for safe access routes with other 
reasonable waterway uses.
    Initial port access route study. The approaches to the Cape Fear 
River and Beaufort Inlet, NC were last studied in 1981, and the final 
results were published in the Federal Register on July 22, 1982 (47 FR 
31766). The study concluded that ``there is no need to impose new ship 
routing measures such as TSS's or shipping safety fairways where fixed 
structures would be prohibited, in any'' area off the North Carolina 
coast.
    Why is a new port access route study necessary? Vessel size, 
traffic density and channel depth and width have changed since the 1981 
study. Major channel depth, width and alignment changes are currently 
underway in the Cape Fear River and port of Wilmington, NC. A PARS was 
initiated in 1996 (61 FR 35703; July 8, 1996), but was not completed 
due to personnel and funding issues.
    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (ACoE) report, ``Waterborne 
Commerce

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of the United States'' reports that, from 1981 to 1999, annual trips to 
and from the Port of Wilmington, NC, increased from 10,060 to 24,190 or 
140% and the number of trips to and from Morehead City, NC, decreased 
from 7,842 to 3,388 or 57%. Since 1981 the Army Corps of Engineers 
maintained Federal Navigation Project for the Cape Fear River ocean bar 
channel has increased the channel depth from 38 feet to 40 feet. 
Dredging is currently underway in the Cape Fear River, which will 
deepen the channels from the Atlantic Ocean to Wilmington to 42 feet 
and to 44 feet over the ocean bar. The project depth for Beaufort 
Inlet/Morehead City has increased from 42 feet to 45 feet.
    Timeline, area, and process of this PARS. The Fifth Coast Guard 
District will conduct this PARS to determine the need to modify 
existing routing measures and the effects of potential modifications in 
the study area. The study will begin immediately and we anticipate the 
study will be completed by January 31, 2002.
    The study area will encompass the area bounded by a line connecting 
the following geographic points (All coordinates are NAD 1983):

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Latitude                             Longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
34 deg.40'N...............................  77 deg.00'W
34 deg.40'N...............................  76 deg.15'W
34 deg.10'N...............................  76 deg.15'W
33 deg.15'N...............................  77 deg.30'W
33 deg.00'N...............................  78 deg.20'W
33 deg.50'N...............................  78 deg.20'W
33 deg.50'N...............................  77 deg.55'W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The study area encompasses the approaches to the Cape Fear River 
and Beaufort Inlet, as well as the area offshore of North Carolina used 
by commercial and public vessels transiting to and from these ports.
    As part of this study, we will consider previous studies, analyses 
of vessel traffic density, and agency and stakeholder experience in 
vessel traffic management, navigation, ship handling, and effects of 
weather. We encourage you to participate in the study process by 
submitting comments in response to this notice.
    We will publish the results of the PARS in the Federal Register. It 
is possible that the study may validate continued applicability of 
existing vessel routing measures and conclude that no changes are 
necessary. It is also possible that the study may recommend one or more 
changes to enhance navigational safety and vessel traffic management 
efficiency. Study recommendations may lead to future rulemakings or 
appropriate international agreements.

Potential Study Recommendations

    We are attempting to determine the scope of any safety problems 
associated with vessel transits in the study area. We expect that 
information gathered during the study will identify any problems and 
appropriate solutions. The study may recommend that we--
     Maintain the current vessel routing measures;
     Establish a TSS in the Approaches to the Cape Fear River;
     Establish a TSS in the Approaches to Beaufort Inlet;
     Establish a TSS off North Carolina encompassing the routes 
typically used by merchant and naval vessels transiting the study area;
     Establish a Precautionary Area(s) near either or both 
Approaches;
     Establish an Inshore Traffic Zone(s) near either or both 
approaches;
     Establish an Area to be Avoided (ATBA) in shallow areas 
where the risk of grounding is present;
     Create Anchorage Grounds(s); and
     Establish a Regulated Navigation Area (RNA) with specific 
vessel operating requirements to ensure safe navigation near shallow 
water.

Questions

    To help us conduct the port access route study, we request comments 
on the following questions, although comments on other issues addressed 
in this document are also welcome. In responding to a question, please 
explain your reasons for each answer, and follow the instructions under 
``Request for Comments'' above.
    1. What navigational hazards do vessels operating in the study area 
face? Please describe.
    2. Are there strains on the current vessel routing system 
(increasing traffic density, for example)? If so, please describe.
    3. Are modifications to existing vessel routing measures needed to 
address hazards and strains and improve traffic management efficiency 
in the study area? Why or why not? If so, what measures should the 
study of port-access routes address for potential implementation?
    4. What costs and benefits are associated with the measures listed 
as potential study recommendations? What measures do you think are most 
cost-effective?
    5. What impacts, both positive and negative, would changes to 
existing routing measures or new routing measures have on the study 
area?

    Dated: December 27, 2001.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety and Environmental Protection.
[FR Doc. 02-1371 Filed 1-17-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-U