[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 33, Volume 3]

[Revised as of July 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 33CFR207.160]



[Page 40-43]

 

                TITLE 33--NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS

 

 CHAPTER II--CORPS OF ENGINEERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, DEPARTMENT OF 

                                 DEFENSE

 

PART 207_NAVIGATION REGULATIONS--Table of Contents

 

Sec.  207.160  All waterways tributary to the Atlantic Ocean south of 

Chesapeake Bay and all waterways tributary to the Gulf of Mexico east 

and south of St. Marks, Fla.; use, administration, and navigation.



    (a) Description. This section applies to the following:

    (1) Waterways. All navigable waters of the United States, natural or 

artificial, including bays, lakes, sounds, rivers, creeks, intracoastal 

waterways, as well as canals and channels of all types, which are 

tributary to or connected by other waterways with the Atlantic Ocean 

south of Chesapeake Bay or with the Gulf of Mexico east and south of St. 

Marks, Florida.

    (2) Locks. All Government owned or operated locks and hurricane gate 

chambers and appurtenant structures in any of the waterways described in 

paragraph (a)(1) of this section.

    (3) U.S. property. All river and harbor lands owned by the United 

States in or along the waterways described in paragraph (a)(1) of this 

section, including lock sites and all structures thereon, other sites 

for Government structures and for the accommodation and use of employees 

of the United States, and rights of way and spoil disposal areas to the 

extent of Federal interest therein.

    (4) Vessels and rafts. The term ``vessel'' as used in this section 

includes all floating things moved over these waterways other than 

rafts.

    (b) Authority of District Engineers. The use, administration, and 

navigation of these waterways, Federal locks and hurricane gate chambers 

shall be under the direction of the officers of the Corps of Engineers, 

U.S. Army, detailed in charge of the respective sections, and their 

authorized assistants. The cities in which the U.S. District Engineers 

are located are as follows:



    U.S. District Engineer, Norfolk, Virginia.

    U.S. District Engineer, Wilmington, North Carolina.

    U.S. District Engineer, Charleston, South Carolina.

    U.S. District Engineer, Savannah, Georgia.

    U.S. District Engineer, Jacksonville, Florida.



    (c) [Reserved]

    (d) Bridges. (For regulations governing the operation of bridges, 

see Sec. Sec.  117.1, 117.240 and 117.245 of this title.)

    (e) Locks--(1) Authority of lockmasters. (i) Locks staffed with 

Government personnel. The provisions of this subparagraph apply to all 

waterways in this Section except for the segment of the Atlantic 

Intracoastal Waterway identified in (e)(1)(ii). The lockmaster shall be 

charged with the immediate control and management of the lock, and of 

the area set aside as the lock area, including the lock approach 

channels. He/she shall see that all laws, rules and regulations for the 

use of the lock and lock area are duly complied with, to which end he/

she is authorized to give all necessary orders and directions in 

accordance therewith, both to employees of the Government and to any and 

every person within the limits of the lock and lock area, whether 

navigating the lock or not. No one shall cause any movement of any 

vessel, boat, or other floating thing in the lock or approaches except 

by or under the direction of the lockmaster or his/her assistants.

    (ii) Locks staffed with contract personnel. The provisions of this 

subparagraph apply to the segment of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway 

comprising the Albermarle and Chesapeake Canal and the Dismal Swamp 

Canal including Great Bridge Lock, Chesapeake, Virginia; Deep Creek 

Lock, Chesapeake, Virginia; and South Mills Lock, North Carolina. 

Contract personnel shall give all necessary orders and directions for 

operation of the locks. No one shall cause any movement of any vessel, 

boat or other floating thing in the locks or approaches except by or 

under the direction of the contract lock operator. All duties and 

responsibilities of the lockmaster set forth in this section shall be 

performed



[[Page 41]]



by the contract lock operator except that the responsibility for 

enforcing all laws, rules and regulations shall be vested in a 

government employee designated by the Norfolk District Engineer. The 

District Engineer will notify waterway users and the general public 

through appropriate notices and media concerning the location and 

identity of the designated government employee.

    (2) Signals. Vessels desiring lockage in either direction shall give 

notice to the lockmaster at not more than three-quarters of a mile nor 

less than one-quarter of a mile from the lock, by two long and two short 

blasts of a whistle. When the lock is available, a green light, 

semaphore or flag will be displayed; when not available, a red light, 

semaphore or flag will be displayed. No vessels or rafts shall approach 

within 300 feet of any lock entrance unless signalled to do so by the 

lockmaster.

    (3) Precedence at locks. (i) The vessel arriving first at a lock 

shall be first to lock through; but precedence shall be given to vessels 

belonging to the United States and to commercial vessels in the order 

named. Arrival posts or markers may be established ashore above or below 

the locks. Vessels arriving at or opposite such posts or markers will be 

considered as having arrived at the locks within the meaning of this 

paragraph.

    (ii) The lockage of pleasure boats, house boats or like craft shall 

be expedited by locking them through with commercial craft (other than 

barges carrying petroleum products or highly hazardous materials) in 

order to utilize the capacity of the lock to its maximum. If, after the 

arrival of such craft, no separate or combined lockage can be 

accomplished within a reasonable time not to exceed the time required 

for three other lockages, then separate lockage shall be made.

    (4) Entrance to and exit from locks. No vessel or raft shall enter 

or leave the locks before being signalled to do so. While waiting their 

turns, vessels or rafts must not obstruct traffic and must remain at a 

safe distance from the lock. They shall take position in rear of any 

vessels or rafts that may precede them, and there arrange the tow for 

locking in sections if necessary. Masters and pilots of vessels or in 

charge of rafts shall cause no undue delay in entering or leaving the 

lock, and will be held to a strict accountability that the approaches 

are not at any time unnecessarily obstructed by parts of a tow awaiting 

lockage or already passed through. They shall provide sufficient men to 

move through the lock promptly without damage to the structures. Vessels 

or tows that fail to enter the locks with reasonable promptness after 

being signalled to do so will lose their turn.

    (5) Lockage of vessels. (i) Vessels must enter and leave the locks 

carefully at slow speed, must be provided with suitable lines and 

fenders, must always use fenders to protect the walls and gates, and 

when locking at night must be provided with suitable lights and use them 

as directed.

    (ii) Vessels which do not draw at least six inches less than the 

depth on miter sills or breast walls, or which have projections or sharp 

corners liable to damage gates or walls, shall not enter a lock or 

approaches.

    (iii) No vessel having chains or lines either hanging over the sides 

or ends, or dragging on the bottom, for steering or other purposes, will 

be permitted to pass a lock or dam.

    (iv) Power vessels must accompany tows through the locks when so 

directed by the lockmaster.

    (v) No vessel whose cargo projects beyond its sides will be admitted 

to lockage.

    (vi) Vessels in a sinking condition shall not enter a lock or 

approaches.

    (vii) The passing of coal from flats or barges to steamers while in 

locks is prohibited.

    (viii) Where special regulations for safeguarding human life and 

property are desirable for special situations, the same may be indicated 

by printed signs, and in such cases such signs will have the same force 

as other regulations in this section.

    (ix) The lockmaster may refuse to lock vessels which, in his 

judgment, fail to comply with this paragraph.

    (6) Lockage of rafts. Rafts shall be locked through in sections as 

directed by the lockmaster. No raft will be locked that is not 

constructed in accordance with the requirements stated in paragraph (g) 

of this section. The



[[Page 42]]



party in charge of a raft desiring lockage shall register with the 

lockmaster immediately upon arriving at the lock and receive 

instructions for locking.

    (7) Number of lockages. Tows or rafts locking in sections will 

generally be allowed only two consecutive lockages if one or more single 

vessels are waiting for lockage, but may be allowed more in special 

cases. If tows or rafts are waiting above and below a lock for lockage, 

sections will be locked both ways alternately whenever practicable. When 

there are two or more tows or rafts awaiting lockage in the same 

direction, no part of one shall pass the lock until the whole of the one 

preceding it shall have passed.

    (8) Mooring. (i) Vessels and rafts when in the lock shall be moored 

where directed by the lockmaster by bow, stern and spring lines to the 

snubbing posts or hooks provided for that purpose, and lines shall not 

be let go until signal is given for vessel or raft to leave. Tying boats 

to the lock ladders is prohibited.

    (ii) The mooring of vessels or rafts near the approaches to locks 

except while waiting for lockage, or at other places in the pools where 

such mooring interferes with general navigation of the waterway is 

prohibited.

    (9) Maneuvering locks. The lock gates, valves, and accessories will 

be moved only under the direction of the lockmaster; but if required, 

all vessels and rafts using the locks must furnish ample help on the 

lock walls for handling lines and maneuvering the various parts of the 

lock under the direction of the lockmaster.

    (f) [Reserved]

    (g) Rafts, logging. (1) Rafts will be permitted to navigate a 

waterway only if properly and securely assembled. The passage of ``bag'' 

or ``sack'' rafts, ``dog'' rafts, or of loose logs over any portion of a 

waterway, is prohibited. Each section of a raft will be secured within 

itself in such a manner as to prevent the sinking of any log, and so 

fastened or tied with chains or wire rope that it cannot be separated or 

bag out so as to materially change its shape. All dogs, chains and other 

means used in assembling rafts shall be in good condition and of ample 

size and strength to accomplish their purposes.

    (2) No section of a raft will be permitted to be towed over any 

portion of a waterway unless the logs float sufficiently high in the 

water to make it evident that the section will not sink en route.

    (3) Frequent inspections will be made by the person in charge of 

each raft to insure that all fastenings remain secure, and when any one 

is found to have loosened, it shall be repaired at once. Should any log 

or section be lost from a raft, the fact must be promptly reported to 

the District Engineer, giving as definitely as possible the exact point 

at which the loss occurred. In all cases the owner of the lost log or 

section will take steps immediately to remove the same from the 

waterway.

    (4) The length and width of rafts shall not exceed such maximum 

dimensions as may be prescribed by the District Engineer.

    (5) All rafts shall carry sufficient men to enable them to be 

managed properly, and to keep them from being an obstruction to other 

craft using the waterway. To permit safe passage in a narrow channel 

rafts will, if necessary, stop and tie up alongside the bank. Care must 

be exercised both in towing and mooring rafts to avoid the possibility 

of damage to aids to navigation maintained by the United States or under 

its authorization.

    (6) When rafts are left for any reason with no one in attendance, 

they must be securely tied at each end and at as many intermediate 

points as may be necessary to keep the timbers from bagging into the 

stream, and must be moored so as to conform to the shape of the bank. 

Rafts moored to the bank shall have lights at 500-foot intervals along 

their entire length. Rafts must not be moored at prominent projections 

of the bank, or at critical sections.

    (7) Logs may be stored in certain tributary streams provided a clear 

channel at least one-half the width of the channel be left clear for 

navigation along the tributary. Such storage spaces must be protected by 

booms and, if necessary to maintain an open channel, piling should also 

be used. Authority for placing these booms and piling must be obtained 

by written permit from the District Engineer.



[[Page 43]]



    (8) The building, assembling, or breaking up of a raft in a waterway 

will be permitted only upon special authority obtained from the District 

Engineer, and under such conditions as he may prescribe.

    (h) Dumping of refuse or oil in waterway, obstructions. Attention is 

invited to the provisions of sections 13 and 20 of the River and Harbor 

Act of March 3, 1899 (30 Stat. 1152, 1154; 33 U. S. C. 407, 415), and of 

sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Oil Pollution Act of June 7, 1924 (43 Stat. 

604, 605; 33 U.S.C. 432-434), which prohibit the depositing of any 

refuse matter in these waterways or along their banks where liable to be 

washed into the waters; authorize the immediate removal or destruction 

of any sunken vessel, craft, raft, or other similar obstruction, which 

stops or endangers navigation; and prohibit the discharge of oil from 

vessels into the coastal navigable waters of the United States.

    (i) Damage. Masters and owners of vessels using the waterways are 

responsible for any damage caused by their operations to canal 

revetments, lock piers and walls, bridges, hurricane gate chambers, 

spillways, or approaches thereto, or other Government structures, and 

for displacing or damaging of buoys, stakes, spars, range lights or 

other aids to navigation. Should any part of a revetment, lock, bridge, 

hurricane gate chamber, spillway or approach thereto, be damaged, they 

shall report the fact, and furnish a clear statement of how the damage 

occurred, to the nearest Government lockmaster or bridge tender, and by 

mail to the District Engineer, U.S. Engineer Office, in local charge of 

the waterway in which the damage occurred. Should any aid to navigation 

be damaged, they shall report that fact immediately to the 

Superintendent of Lighthouses at Norfolk, Virginia, if north of New 

River Inlet, North Carolina; to the Superintendent of Lighthouses at 

Charleston, South Carolina, if between New River Inlet, North Carolina, 

and St. Lucie Inlet, Florida; to the Superintendent of Lighthouses at 

Key West, Florida, if between St. Lucie Inlet and Suwanee River, 

Florida; and to the Superintendent of Lighthouses, New Orleans, 

Louisiana, if between Suwanee River and St. Marks, Florida.

    (j) Trespass on property of the United States. Trespass on waterway 

property or injury to the banks, locks, bridges, piers, fences, trees, 

houses, shops or any other property of the United States pertaining to 

the waterway is strictly prohibited. No business, trading or landing of 

freight or baggage will be allowed on or over Government piers, bridges, 

or lock walls.

    (k) Copies of regulations. Copies of the regulations in this section 

will be furnished free of charge upon application to the nearest 

District Engineer.



[Regs., Apr. 30, 1938, as amended at 8 FR 15381, Nov. 9, 1943; 25 FR 

8908, Sept. 16, 1960; 26 FR 353, Jan. 18, 1961; 34 FR 4967, Mar. 7, 

1969; 42 FR 57961, Nov. 7, 1977; 48 FR 6335, Feb. 11, 1983; 56 FR 13765, 

Apr. 4, 1991]