TOWBOAT REGULATIONS

TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1965

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COAST GUARD, COAST AND

GEODETIC SURVEY, AND NAVIGATION OF THE

COMMITTEE ON MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES,

Washington, D.C. This subcommittee met at 10: 10 a.m., pursuant to recess, in room 1334, Longworth Building, Hon. Edward A. Garmatz (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Mr. GARMATZ. The meeting will come to order.

The subcommittee will continue hearings on H.R. 156, H.R. 723, and H.R. 7491. Our first witness this morning is Robert L. Gray, manager of river operations for the Ashland Oil & Refining Co., of Ashland, Ky.

Mr. Gray, will you have a seat, please?

STATEMENT OF ROBERT L. GRAY, MANAGER, RIVER OPERATIONS FOR ASHLAND OIL & REFINING CO., ASHLAND, KY.

Mr. GRAY. Mr. Chairman, Mrs. Sullivan, gentlemen. I am Robert L. Gray, manager of river operations for the Ashland Oil & Refining Co. of Ashland, Ky. I am a graduate mechanical engineer and have worked with diesel towboats, their design, construction, manning, and operations for this company since 1941.

Prior to this, I had worked as an oiler in the engineroom of diesel towboats and in a shipyard for interrupted periods of employment totaling 15 months.

Ashland Oil & Refining Co. is engaged in all phases of the oil business-production, refining, transportation, and marketing. The company has been a pioneer in the use of inland water transportation for the movement of petroleum and its products.

It began this operation in 1924 with a 30-horsepower sternwheel, kerosene-powered towboat and a wooden hull barge with steel tanks mounted on the deck. Today its equipment consists of 4 towboats, 2 of 4,800 horsepower, 1 of 3,200 horsepower, and 1 of 500 horsepower, together with 110 tank barges. Average trips in the early years of operation were of a distance of about 25 miles. Today they average 3,200 miles.

Ashland has pioneered the use of radar, depth sounders, ship-toshore telephones, and other modern equipment for safe, year-round operations under all weather conditions. All these and many other improvements were developed without any governmental compulsion.

Indeed, installation of such devices on uninspected vessels long preceded their use on inspected vessels. Competition is not only the life of trade; it is a most dependable stimulus to safe, efficient operation. Ashland is opposed to H.R. 156 and H.R. 723 as an unnecessary burden on the inland barge and towing vessel industry; such legislation is not called for by considerations of safety. To substantiate this, I reexamined our accident claim experience as to both personnel and equipment and found that 10 years ago our personal injuries were running twice our current rate, while our 5-year average damage to equipment, as reflected by claim dollars per ton-mile, has been running less than 50 percent of our experience for the previous 11 years. This has taken place while our ton-miles increased seven times the volume established in 1948. This resulted during a period of an increasing number of towboats, longer trips and larger tows, which increases the frequency of exposure in passing situations. This also reflects higher equipment cost, higher shipyard repair cost, higher towing speeds-all of which relate directly to the size of the claims for equipment.

I have not attempted to put a dollar value on personal claims but limited this review to number of incidents as related to the number employed.

We operate tows on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Our tank barges come under Coast Guard inspection and many of our personnel are certificated tankmen. Some of our pilothouse, deck and engineroom personnel are licensed by the Coast Guard. However this is not a condition of employment.

Each man is selected for his position after filing an application, testing thorough investigation, preemployment physical examination and, if supervisory in his department, years of experience in this job or one that will qualify him for it.

In addition to specialists in maintenance, gas freeing of barges, and repair procedures, we employ a safety engineer who works directly with the men on safety problems relating to the equipment and he makes recommendations on safety equipment to be used. This is his regular employment, and he draws on his years of experience when making these recommendations.

Governmental inspection and prescription of manning scales for these vessels in our fleet will only add to the cost of operation and will do nothing to enhance the serviceability of the equipment or improve the safety conditions for our men.

Careful maintenance records are kept for each of our 110 barges, as well as on the mechanical condition of the 4 towboats.

We are engaged in this form of transportation to enable our company to provide the lowest possible cost on delivery of large volumes of crude oil to our refineries and to redistribute the finished products to our terminals located within our marketing area along the rivers.

It is imperative that this operation be conducted as efficiently as possible to meet the pipeline competition of the major marketers. Three of our refineries are located on the Ohio River and are dependent on low-cost water transportation to be competitive.

Regarding H.R. 7491, if supplemented by appropriate standards to govern discretion of the regulatory agency, we could support its provisions for licensing of "master, pilots and other persons in charge of navigation of every vessel propelled by machinery" on the navigable waterways. This would be along the lines of a motor vessel operator's permit.

Standards applied should not, however, limit the route of the pilot. This is no longer necessary with the improved channel conditions, improved aids to navigation, improved equipment, and improved navigational notices and river bulletins.

These standards should confine themselves to a determination of the knowledge of such personnel of the "rules of the road," measurement of their physical qualifications and establishment of a minimum age limit. Perhaps, also, there should be provided different grades to reflect the size of the vessel. Such a licensing provision should not, however, in our opinion, be limited to towboats; it should extend also to power-driven pleasure boats.

Deaths and accidents to pleasure boaters have been increasing at an alarming rate, and their lack of knowledge of the rules of the road and other navigation requirements imperils the safe operation of commercial transportation as well as their own lives.

A person presently serving in the pilothouse of a towboat should be licensed or certificated under a grandfather clause, if properly supported by satisfactory evidence from his employer that he is serving in that capacity.

In other areas of the shipping industry where regulations of the type here under consideration for inspection, manning, and licensing or certification of personnel have been in effect, we have observed a paralleling decline in efficiency and acceptance of new methods.

This decline has now reached a point where coastwise shipping has disappeared and deepwater vessels are fighting for their survival even with a subsidy program. We have been sideline spectators to a similar battle within the railroad industry.

Our industry, however, unfettered by any of these requirements, has had freedom to try new equipment, such as radar, depth sounders, automated enginerooms, bow-steering devices, new deck-rigging arrangements-all tending to reduce cost and improve operation. This is a transportation industry where the costs per ton-mile are half what they were 20 years ago.

This is an industry where 200,000 barrels of product can be moved along a shallow-draft river, passing through locks and bridges with only a few feet of horizontal clearance and in water depths providing less than 6 inches' clearance in many places, working in crosscurrents, fogs, and meeting other vessels under these same conditions, moving this cargo in 9 separate pieces of equipment (the towboat and 8 barges) with 11 men, where it takes a crew of 35 men to transport the same volume cargo in a tanker along the gulf and east coast.

Ashland is convinced that licensing, inspection, and prescription of manning scales as contemplated in these bills would gravely impair the efficiency and economy of river transportation with serious conse

quences for the vast industrial enterprises and community development dependent upon low-cost water transportation.

We are convinced, also, that the industry's safety record makes n clear that no such drastic measures are justified. Such measures would exact a cost far exceeding any benefits to safety conditions which might be derived from them.

I would like to insert a note here that is not in my statement. We would also like to advise we are acquainted with the statement of the American Waterways Operators and we support their position.

We respectfully urge that the committee reject H.R. 723 and H.R. 156, and that it consider modification of H.R. 7491 along the lines here indicated. I wish to thank the committee for this opportunity to express our views.

Mr. GARMATZ. On page 5, you say something about freedom to try new equipment such as radar and so forth; are your tows equipped with this modern equipment?

Mr. GRAY. Yes, sir; we are. We have all of the items named here operating on our tows.

Mr. GARMATZ. You say the towboat and eight barges; what is the capacity of one of these barges?

Mr. GRAY. They vary in size, the largest hold approximately 30,000 barrels and the smallest about 12,000. We have to build them in different increments of length in order to double the smaller locks, the 600foot chambers.

Mr. GARMATZ. Are the barges inspected by the Coast Guard?
Mr. GRAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. GARMATZ. Mr. Clark?

Mr. CLARK. On page 2 you state the accident rate of yesterday, or of years passed, and today, you say this is truthful in the way of your records?

Mr. GRAY. This is our company's experience.

Mr. CLARK. On the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers?

Mr. GRAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. CLARK. It is very interesting to hear because I felt with the increase of traffic your accident rate would go way up.

Mr. GRAY. It would seem to be the case but we have through our safety engineering and through our own efforts on improvements to equipment that the men work with and the equipment that they operate the tows with, been able to reduce the number of occasions where they are exposed to injury.

Tows now, with radar and depth sounders, do not go aground as much as they did in years past. When a tow goes aground with a large tow, rigging breaks and men are exposed to unusual working conditions in trying to get the tow back together.

Mr. CLARK. Do you have good working relations between labor and management on this safety equipment question? Mr. GRAY. We feel we do; yes, sir.

Mr. CLARK. That is all.

Mr. GARMATZ. Mr. Grover?

Mr. GROVER. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Do you think this legislation would be improved or at least made a little more palatable with the grandfather clause for the men now serving in the pilothouse?

Mr. GRAY. Yes, sir; I think this will assure the men presently working in this capacity of an easy continuity on their jobs and I feel though, that this licensing or certification should only apply to the pilothouse, not to any of the other operations.

Mr. GROVER. Do you have any problems of manning your towboatsgetting qualified personnel to man them?

Mr. GRAY. Not in the supervisory or the more responsible positions. We also have turnover in the deck department. They are young people generally and they marry and want to move ashore.

The supervisory people have decided to make the river their career and there is very little turnover there.

Mr. GROVER. Do some of the towboat people seem to be concerned that some of their personnel who have grown up as you did, in effect, with the business, wouldn't be able to pass the very strict type of examination which they anticipate the Coast Guard will apply?

Mr. GRAY. This, as presently interpreted could happen because many of these men lack all or some formal education. Even some of the best men in the pilothouse, they are just native born to it, you might say, it is sort of second nature to them. Many of them won't try to get a license because they feel this lack of education is a handicap. Mr. GROVER. So that in any event you think this would be amelio. rated somewhat if there were a grandfather clause.

Mr. GRAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. GARMATZ. What is the length of your average tow and the time?

Mr. GRAY. The overall dimension is

Mr. GARMATZ. What is the length of time between your average tows?

Mr. GRAY. The turn-around trip?

Mr. GARMATZ. Yes.

Mr. GRAY. On these 3,200-mile trips that takes 19 days to leave Ashland and go to a loading point below New Orleans and return.

Mr. GARMATZ. Nineteen days down and back?

Mr. GRAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. GARMATZ. What are the hours of your crews, they make a complete trip and then what happens?

Mr. GRAY. They may make a trip or several trips; these men work 30, 40, 50 days and then take their time off. They will take one or two trips off depending on how much time they have accumulated and what their individual family plans are.

Mr. GARMATZ. What is their hourly pay, is it all straight time?
Mr. GRAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. GARMATZ. Regardless of whether it is Sunday or anything else? Mr. GRAY. That is right. The pay has been adjusted to take in the hours they work and the days they work but there is no overtime pay. Mr. GARMATZ. Mrs. Sullivan?

Mrs. SULLIVAN. Yes, I have a few questions, Mr. Chairman.