Hello all. I’m wondering if someone has any legal expertise with regard to voyages on vessels with no accoms. Can the operators of a passenger ferry with no accoms and only one small shower reasonably expect that it’s crew stay aboard for several weeks and sleep on the floor and share the same shower? The purpose of the voyage is to re certify the crew in intended ports of call. Not a normal voyage by any means, but my gut tells me you can’t expect a dozen men to sleep on the floor and share one shower like that.
My guess is that you’re talking about “The Cat” or Alakai? Hasn’t run the past 2 summers up in Maine as far as I know.
Ah you mean accommodations. Not accommodation ladders.
Check out 46 CFR 72.20, assuming the vessel is over 100 tons ( 46 CFR Subpart 72.20 - Accommodations for Officers and Crew | CFR | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu)).
That is how ours got delivered from Australia or Tasmania to the UK.
It’s no biggie and it’s not as if you all have to shower together.
Just make sure that they supply mattresses of some description (the inflatable ones with the built in air pumps are pretty good) and that you have a portable DVD player or similar with loads to watch.
Delivery voyages attract all sorts of exemptions so the accommodation will probably be one of them.
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Unfortunately for you the US did not fully sign up to MLC 40, which in UK is now extended down to workboats.
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Accommodation must be improved. We still have a lot of 40, 50, 60 and 70 year old tugs with primitive accommodations that should not be tolerated in 21st century America. A lot of these boat should not be passing Subchapter M because of the deplorable, unsanitary and unsafe accommodations.
These vessels need to be scrapped and replaced with new vessels built to high standards. America does not need to be a Third World “shithole” country.
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I agree. People in the industry want to go to a 4/8 watch rotation but many smaller tugs simply can’t accommodate more than a 4 man crew, and most will refuse to “hot rack”. I know I would.