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May 15, 2006 -- Vol. 6 Issue 20 Written by Jack R. Simpson (unless otherwise noted), owner of J.R. Simpson & Associates, Inc. and contributing editor to The Waterways Journal.
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 In This Newsletter:
Thought For The Week
Predictions and estimates are just that — predictions and estimates. Nothing is set in concrete. Editorial Comment From Jack
 Because it deals with a subject near and dear to the hearts of rivermen, let me say that when the Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Coast Guard issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on May 9 dealing with port workers and Coast Guard licenses, it caught many by surprise. Our sources told us that the rule was expected but not that soon. Before the end of the year, they said. It was pointed out in the editorial in “The Waterways Journal” that observers did not believe it would be a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at all but an interim rule that would have to be followed as soon as it was issued. Again we were wrong. Nevertheless, we have not come close to hearing all we are going to hear about this rulemaking. It all comes about because of Homeland Security rules that have invaded every corner of our being. A detailed story about the NPRM and Coast Guard regulation is included under “On The Waterfront” below. So stay tuned for what’s to come. In the meantime, I am reproducing an email from a correspondent below who has much to say about the difficulty in obtaining marine licenses. Newsletter News
I announced previously that sometimes events might get in the way of writing B&B. That happened Monday. Close readers of Kathy Flippo’s column might have noticed a couple bloopers committed not by the author but by yours truly, the editor. I mistakenly removed the word “this” at one point, thus making Capt. Scott Taylor a trip pilot. Sorry, Captain. Later, while changing “ten” to journalistic style “10” I forgot to delete the spelled-out version. Smack me with a wet noodle. – Jack A welcome announcement this week is that programs reveal we now have 1,041 subscribers to Bitts and Bytes. That represents a milestone for us. Maybe we should double the subscription price!!!!! Bitts About People And Boats
May we wish Virginia Bennett of Covington, Ky., a longtime river writer and “pen pal” via radio of hundreds of Ohio River professional rivermen, a very happy birthday Tuesday, May 16. She has turned 39 once more and we hear she is doing fine. A good friend of hers, Keith Norrington of New Albany, river historian, beat her to the punch. He turned 52 on the 13th. May they both have many more. Both Virginia and Keith have contributed for decades to “The Waterways Journal”, sharing bits and pieces of river history and detailed historical research that some of us don’t have time to undertake. For Those Inclined To Pray
 For those desiring prayer support for themselves or others, we invite you to join our Prayer Circle, which allows you to submit requests, thereby tapping into prayerful support of our 40 Circle members. There is power in prayer. Membership in the Circle and/or the submission of prayer requests is open to anyone and free. Request lists are sent out via email, generally, on the day they are received. Come join us!
On The Waterfront
Department of Homeland Security Issues For TWICs On May 9 the Department of Homeland Security, through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the U.S. Coast Guard, approved proposed regulations for a biometric-based identification credential for port workers and mariners. It is another step in the implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC). The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) will be published in the “Federal Register” in coming days. It lays out specific details of the program. The public will then have 45 days to comment. Four public meetings will be hosted by TSA and the Coast Guard. TWIC, says Homeland Security, is designed to see that individuals posing a security threat do not gain access to our nation’s ports. The Coast Guard also approved a proposed regulation that works in conjunction with TWIC to streamline the current credentialing process for merchant mariners. It will be published in the Register on the same day as the TWIC NPRM. The Department of Homeland Security announced recently that it will begin conducting name-based background checks on approximately 400,000 port workers with the United States. These checks are intended as an immediate measure, the department says, to safeguard the nation’s ports while the department expedites the rollout of the TWIC. The TWIC rules proposes the following: TSA would collect worker’s biographic information, including fingerprints, name, date of birth, address and phone number, alien registration number, if applicable; photo; employer; and job title. — All individuals with unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities and vessels regulated under the Maritime Transportation Act would be required to have a TWIC. This includes longshoremen, port operator employees, truck drivers and rail workers/ U.S. Merchant Mariners who hold an active Merchant Mariner’s Document, Merchant Mariner’s License, Certificate of Registry or a STCW Endorsement would also be required to obtain a TWIC. — Background checks would include a review of criminal history records, terrorist watch lists, legal immigration status and outstanding wants and warrants. — TWIC would utilize Smart Card technology and include a worker’s photo, name, biometric information and multiple fraud protection measures. The card would be consistent with Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 and Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 201-1 requirements and would be interoperable with other federal credentials built to those standards. — The program is expected to cover 750,000 workers and would be funded through user fees. TSA anticipates workers would pay approximately $139 to receive a TWIC. Workers with current, comparable background checks would pay approximately $105 for the credential. A TWIC card would be valid for five years. — Port facility and vessel owners and operators would be required to implement TWIC into their existing access control systems and operations, purchase and utilize card readers, and update their approved security plants. The Merchant Marine Credential rule proposes the following: A new Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC) would combine the elements of the Merchant Mariner’s License, Merchant Mariner’s Document, Certificate of Registry, and STCW Endorsement into one qualification credential. — Although the format in which the mariner’s qualifications and the application process itself would change, the training, experience and other requirements necessary to obtain a mariner’s service qualifications would not change. — Merchant mariners would no longer be required to visit a Regional Exam Center to submit fingerprints and identification or to take an oath when they obtain or renew their credentials, resulting in substantial time and travel savings. — The MMC would appear in certificate form with many fraud protection measures. Although the actual format of the MMC is still in development, it is expected to look much like the recently released STCW Endorsement, as well as contain many of the security features used in that new certificate. TSA laid the foundation of the universal credential through a technology evaluation and prototype test. During the prototype test of the credential last year, TSA issued more than 4,000 TWICs to workers at 26 sites in six states. Mississippi River Safety Zone Cancelled By Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. (May 15), the U.S. Coast Guard cancelled a safety zone that had been established after the Mary Kay Eckstein and its 30 barges allided with the Thebes Railroad Bridge early Monday morning. Some 22 barges broke away and drifted downriver, ending up at various locations between Miles 43.5 and 18 on the Upper Mississippi River. During Monday and Tuesday salvage crews and multiple towboats worked to round up loose barges and begin recovery efforts on a grounded rock barge at Mile 26, a grounded scrap metal barge at Mile 31 (both being outside the navigation channel), and a sunken barge within the navigation channel at Mile 37.2. The latter is marked by two lighted wreck buoys. Salvage of the three barges was expected by on or before May 18. Traffic through the safety zone before cancellation was strictly controlled. You can contact the editor directly at jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com. advertisement
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Re: Patron Saints If St. Joseph is the patron Saint of carpenters, who is the patron Saint of Towboaters? Larry Richardson (Editor’s note: Anybody got a clue? I do know that if you go to Google and put in as key words “Patron Saint of Mariners”, you will get tons of stuff.) Re: Where Will It All End? I have been a licensed mariner for well over 20 years now, and I cannot believe some of the new rules and regulations the United States Coast Guard and companies are now handing down to us. All you have to do is travel down Interstate 10 along the Gulf Coast and you will see huge billboards from Inland and Offshore companies seeking entire crews for their vessels, pick up any newspaper now days, and look at the “Help Wanted” ads, you will a significant number of ads from these companies as well. All along the ICW in Louisiana, there are flashing signs from companies offering top dollar and what they perceive as good benefits, attempting to attract mariners, and even some companies have gone and placed huge stickers on their barges, as well as others hanging 4' x 8' sheets of plywood in trees alongside the canal and the LMR. It is no secret that there is a shortage of personal in the maritime industry, just as there is a shortage in the American workforce. Terri Pringle with the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission publicly stated that, “Companies are desperate to find employees”. In an April 2006 survey of human resource executives, two-thirds of those answering said, “Retaining workers is becoming more difficult”, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago based outplacement firm. As a result, employers are having to turn to methods other than salary raises to keep workers, including enhanced benefits, tuition reimbursement and additional training. Truer words have never been spoken. As of last week, I spoke with various captains that stated their wages have gone up, but their benefits still needed a boost as well. A leading member of AWO publicly stated that there is not a problem finding personnel to put on their boats, the problem they were having was retaining those people. Trip pilots are making in excess of $500.00 a day now, depending on the size vessel and tow you shove, while regular employees are making much less than that per day. I understand very well that trip-pilots do not have the advantage of having paid insurance, 401k plan and other benefits, but working as a trip pilot, a person can afford to buy their own insurance and invest in a defined retirement plan. I feel if the companies can pay a trip pilot those type wages, why can’t they boost full time employee’s benefits some. And then we have the USCG breathing down our necks. I just finished reading and rereading the draft of the Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular (NVIC) # XX-06, which will replace NVIC 2-98, which provides guidance for evaluating the physical and medical conditions of applicants for Merchant Mariner Credentials (MMC). In this NVIC, there are now two-hundred-two (202) conditions that are potentially disqualifying for issuance of MMC and the appropriate supplemental tests and evaluations for requesting waivers for disqualifying conditions. The final determination regarding issuance of all MMC lies within the Coast Guard. Now, it seems not only do we have the AWO and some of its member companies trying to destroy the American Merchant Marine Fleet, which includes Inland and Offshore, but also the USCG is trying to do their part as well. The NVIC goes on to state that “All members of a crew must be medically and physically fit to perform their duties not only on a routine basis but also in an emergency”. A medical condition is considered to cause “significant functional impairment” It impairs the ability of the applicant to fully perform all of the physical abilities listed in the NVIC, or otherwise interferes with the ability of the applicant to fully perform the duties and responsibilities of the MMC applied for. Over the years, many new rules and regulations have come into effect, but none of them had or will have the impact that NVIC XX-06 will have upon the Maritime Industry. We have seen the USCG impose user fees on us, required Radar Endorsement, Vessel Security Training, as well as many more and much more training to come in the future. But, NVIC XX-06 will be putting some of us “OUT” of the industry forever. The companies realize that within the senior crew members is where the experience lies. They are having a very hard time to find fresh meat for the industry, and the ones that are in the industry, companies and the AWO are scrambling to get those individuals trained for the wheelhouse. But, even so, with the new Steersman/Apprentice License, it will still take them at a minimum 3 ½ years to qualify for a Master’s License, and just how many Senior Mariners will either be retired or forced out of the industry because of this new NVIC and are the AWO, AWO Member Companies and Non-Member Companies going to sit idly by and let this happen? I feel all maritime groups, companies, unions, associations and mariners should ban together for once and try our best to come to a neutral ground and help one another for a change. Not only is the NVIC going to effect the working mariner and the companies, it will also effect the mariners family and all they have worked for their entire life. The companies will be affected by this because they do not and will not have anyone to replace the mariner with, which will then create a greater shortage of qualified crew members. Some of the conditions that are listed in the NVIC are some things that almost every mariner over the age of 45 lives with everyday of their life, be it Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Irregular Heartbeat or just can’t blow long enough or hard enough through a tube. These are just a few of the things that could disqualify a mariner from receiving their MMC. If you are fortunate enough to get a medical waiver, you have to spend hundreds of extra dollars for the tests that the USCG will require you to have. The USCG has also publicly stated that 5% of all medical waiver requests are denied. There is the possibility that you may lose your license for a few months, or forever, while they consider giving you your license or not. In the mean time, you are sitting at home with no check coming in, and the company either scrambles to find a replacement or lets a boat sit idle because they cannot find a crew for it. As for the fresh meat in the industry, companies are now offering $100.00 - $120.00 per day for an inexperienced deckhand that has to work a minimum of 12 hours a day and sometimes as much as 24 hours a day. Any young man in his right mind would look at that and laugh and think, “why should I do that, when I can get a job at Wal-Mart for $10.00 an hour stocking shelves, being home every night and good benefits?” The AWO and companies alike need to wake up and see what is going on around them. Day rates for vessels are at an all-time high, the cost of inflation has rose drastically, gasoline now exceeds $3.00 a gallon, and our wages and benefits have remained basically the same as 5 years ago. If the companies and the USCG continue on this path, the United States will have the best regulated non-existent merchant marine fleet in the world. Gary Hensley Mobile, AL. Boat Photo Center
 Twenty-one photos grace the Photo Center page this week. They include: the Shifty, James Garrett, Clifty Creek, Venture III, Sandy Drake, and two pictures of the Leo C from Eric M. Johnson; the Philip Pfeffer, an out draft warning signal, the Jane G. Huffman, and Coral Dawn from John Miller; City of Redwood and Clinton from Richard L. Kurtz; the George King rigging by Ron Richardson; the Newter, T. M. Norsworthy, Marie MG, Ozark, and Bill Dyer from Brent Maletic; and two pictures of the Big D from Charles Perrin. Click here to see the latest pictures. advertisement
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Recipe Box
Do you have a good recipe you’d like to share? Submit your recipes here! The Book Beat
In view of our recent announcements about book-price cuts, I want to once more recommend the following: Those interested in Missouri River steamboating should check our web site for our three books by Dorothy Heckmann Schrader: “Steamboat Legacy”, “Steamboat Treasures”, and “Steamboat Kid”. Also, don’t miss “Conquest of the Missouri” and “For Wood and Water”. All of these are detailed, non-fictional writings about steamboating. There is also an inexpensive little book called “Grab A Bush”. Self-publishing your book:  Self-publishing your book is a good way to go, but there are booby traps everywhere. Call us at 314/921-4419 to find out how your book can be published without experiencing the problems many writers have faced. Remember, when you self-publish with us, you pay the costs, but you get the books. With some subsidized printing schemes, you don’t. Get More Visitors To Your Web Site - Join The U.S. Inland Waterways Site Ring!
This is a web ring owned by Little River Books. It is dedicated to those who work, rest, or play on the inland waterways of the United States. Owners of river-related commercial or private sites can apply to join, bringing together as many waterways related sites as possible. Sign up (FREE), put the code on your page, and watch your hits skyrocket! Let’s see if we can make this one of the biggest and best river site rings on the web. Benefit from other river sites’ traffic and gain new visitors. If you sell a river-related product on your site, this is the ring for you! (You must copy and past the site ring graphic onto your web site as soon as your site is approved.) Check out the sites currently in the ring and their hit statistics as a direct result of being in the site ring. Tow Talkin'
May 15, 2006 By Kathy Flippo  Got a phone call last Monday afternoon. “Hey, ya old river rat, I just came through the Sabula bridge. I’ll be at the lock at 5 o’clock.”
Didn’t have to think twice as to who was calling. That Swampeast Missouri twang gives Capt. Jim Cheatham on the Mv. Roberta Tabor away every time. Jimmy is the one that called for a tomato delivery to the boat last summer and then was unhappy because I brought up RIPE tomatoes. Geesh! He wanted GREEN ones so he could fry them. Ya just can’t please people any more! And only a southerner from New Madrid, Missouri, would want green ones. What was I thinking? Should have known, especially since I married one of those southerners from even farther south of New Madrid at Caruthersville, Missouri. I got up to Lock 13 just as the Tabor was coming down the upper dike. Was smart enough to travel with my cell phone for a change. As soon as I was parked on the upper dike, I took the phone out of my purse and it rang before I could set it down. Jimmy is the only person…to continue reading, click here. See you on the Web, Jack Little River Books jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com Don't forget to visit our web site! |
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