[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 129 (Friday, July 5, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44927-44928]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-16775]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATON

Maritime Administration

[Docket Number: MARAD-2002-12686]


Requested Administrative Waiver of the Coastwise Trade Laws

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Invitation for public comments on a requested administrative 
waiver of the Coastwise Trade Laws for the vessel SPINDRIFT.

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SUMMARY: As authorized by Pub. L. 105-383, the Secretary of 
Transportation, as represented by the Maritime Administration (MARAD), 
is authorized to grant waivers of the U.S.-build requirement of the 
coastwise laws under certain circumstances. A request for such a waiver 
has been received by MARAD. The vessel, and a description of the 
proposed service, is listed below. Interested parties may comment on 
the effect this action may have on U.S. vessel builders or businesses 
in the U.S. that use U.S.-flag vessels. If MARAD determines that in 
accordance with Pub. L. 105-383 and MARAD's regulations at 46 CFR Part 
388 (65 FR 6905; February 11, 2000) that the issuance of the waiver 
will have an unduly adverse effect on a U.S.-vessel builder or a 
business that uses U.S.-flag vessels, a waiver will not be granted.

DATES: Submit comments on or before August 5, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Comments should refer to docket number MARAD-2002-12686. 
Written comments may be submitted by hand or by mail to the Docket 
Clerk, U.S. DOT Dockets, Room PL-401, Department of Transportation, 400 
7th St., SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001. You may also send comments 
electronically via the Internet at http://dmses.dot.gov/submit/. All 
comments will become part of this docket and will be available for 
inspection and copying at the above address between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
E.T., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays. An electronic 
version of this document and all documents entered into this docket is 
available on the World Wide Web at http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kathleen Dunn, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Maritime Administration, MAR-832 Room 7201, 400 Seventh 
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590. Telephone 202-366-2307.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title V of Pub. L. 105-383 provides 
authority to the Secretary of Transportation to administratively waive 
the U.S.-build requirements of the Jones Act, and other statutes, for 
small commercial passenger vessels (no more than 12 passengers). This 
authority has been delegated to the Maritime Administration per 49 CFR 
Sec. 1.66, Delegations to the Maritime Administrator, as amended. By 
this notice, MARAD is publishing information on a vessel for which a 
request for a U.S.-build waiver has been received, and for which MARAD 
requests comments from interested parties. Comments should refer to the 
docket number of this notice and the vessel name in order for MARAD to 
properly consider the comments. Comments should also state the 
commenter's interest in the waiver application, and address the waiver 
criteria given in Sec. 388.4 of MARAD'S regulations at 46 CFR Part 388.

Vessel Proposed for Waiver of the U.S.-Build Requirement

    (1) Name of vessel and owner for which waiver is requested.
    Name of vessel: SPINDRIFT. Owner: Mark I. and Monique Davies.
    (2) Size, capacity and tonnage of vessel. According to the 
applicant: ``Length-over-all (LOA): 43 feet 2 inches; Beam: 12 feet 7 
inches; Draft: 6 feet; 6 berths; Diesel auxiliary Power: 63 HP; 
Tonnage: 11 NRT pursuant to 46 U.S.C. 14502''
    (3) Intended use for vessel, including geographic region of 
intended operation and trade. According to the applicant: If the waiver 
be granted, the vessel would be engaged in crewed charter operations 
(owners as captain and crew) along the East Coast of the United States, 
primarily in Maine waters; and possibly in the U.S. Virgin Islands and 
Puerto Rico as well.''
    (4) Date and Place of construction and (if applicable) rebuilding. 
Date of construction: 1991. Place of construction: Manila, The 
Philippines.
    (5) A statement on the impact this waiver will have on other 
commercial passenger vessel operators. According to the applicant: ``We 
do not believe this intended use of our sailboat will have any 
significant adverse impact on other commercial passenger vessel 
operators. We intend to provide only crewed charters, serving as 
captain and crew ourselves, and to do so only on an occasional basis 
rather than as a source of livelihood. We anticipate that most of the 
chartering will be done in Maine waters, where almost all of the crewed 
charters are much larger vessels in the Windjammer (schooner) fleet in 
Bothbay, Camden and other points East, for which we present virtually 
no competition. Our base of operations would be in Harpswell, ME (New 
Meadows River, NE Casco Bay), and we are aware of only one or possibly 
two other owners of sailing vessels who offer crewed charters in this 
immediate area of the coast * * * We anticipate that our use of this 
vessel for crewed charter elsewhere on the East Coast of the U.S. will 
be only occasional and seasonal, as we sail southward in the fall and

[[Page 44928]]

northward from the Caribbean in the spring.''
    (6) A statement on the impact this waiver will have on U.S. 
shipyards. According to the applicant: ``We chose our vessel SPINDRIFT 
precisely because of her unique features that we could not find in any 
U.S.-built sailboat of the same size and configuration. The boats now 
built in the U.S. * * * did and do not meet our needs or 
specifications, and we were not able to afford a custom design either 
in the U.S. or abroad. In short, we believe that the impact of the 
waiver requested for this vessel would be negligible.''

    Dated: June 28, 2002.
    By order of the Maritime Administrator.
Joel C. Richard,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 02-16775 Filed 7-3-02; 8:45 am]
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