[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 33, Volume 2]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 33CFR164.82]

[Page 618-619]
 
                TITLE 33--NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS
 
   CHAPTER I--COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 164--NAVIGATION SAFETY REGULATIONS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 164.82  Maintenance, failure, and reporting.

    (a) Maintenance. The owner, master, or operator of each towing 
vessel shall maintain operative the navigational-safety equipment 
required by Sec. 164.72.
    (b) Failure. If any of the navigational-safety equipment required by 
Sec. 164.72 fails during a voyage, the owner, master, or operator of the 
towing vessel shall exercise due diligence to repair it at the earliest 
practicable time. He or she shall enter its failure in the log or other 
record carried on board. The failure of equipment, in itself, does not 
constitute a violation of this rule; nor does it constitute 
unseaworthiness; nor does it obligate an owner, master, or operator to 
moor or anchor the vessel. However, the owner, master, or operator shall 
consider the state of the equipment--along with such factors as weather, 
visibility, traffic, and the dictates of good seamanship--in deciding 
whether it is safe for the vessel to proceed.
    (c) Reporting. The owner, master, or operator of each towing vessel 
whose equipment is inoperative or otherwise impaired while the vessel is 
operating within a Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) Area shall report the 
fact as required by 33 CFR 161.124. (33 CFR 161.124 requires that each 
user of a VTS report to the Vessel Traffic Center as soon as 
practicable:
    (1) Any absence or malfunction of vessel-operating equipment for 
navigational safety, such as propulsion machinery, steering gear, radar, 
gyrocompass, echo depth-sounding or other sounding device, automatic 
dependent surveillance equipment, or navigational lighting;
    (2) Any condition on board the vessel likely to impair navigation, 
such as shortage of personnel or lack of current nautical charts or 
maps, or publications; and
    (3) Any characteristics of the vessel that affect or restrict the 
maneuverability of the vessel, such as arrangement of cargo, trim, 
loaded condition, under-keel clearance, and speed.)
    (d) Deviation and authorization. The owner, master, or operator of 
each towing vessel unable to repair within 96 hours an inoperative 
marine radar required by Sec. 164.72(a) shall so notify the

[[Page 619]]

Captain of the Port (COTP) and shall seek from the COTP both a deviation 
from the requirements of this section and an authorization for continued 
operation in the area to be transited. Failure of redundant 
navigational-safety equipment, including but not limited to failure of 
one of two installed radars, where each satisfies Sec. 164.72(a), does 
not necessitate either a deviation or an authorization.
    (1) The initial notice and request for a deviation and an 
authorization may be spoken, but the request must also be written. The 
written request must explain why immediate repair is impracticable, and 
state when and by whom the repair will be made.
    (2) The COTP, upon receiving even a spoken request, may grant a 
deviation and an authorization from any of the provisions of Sec.Sec. 
164.70 through 164.82 for a specified time if he or she decides that 
they would not impair the safe navigation of the vessel under 
anticipated conditions.

[CGD 94-020, 61 FR 35075, July 3, 1996]