I recently upgraded to master 1600 oceans my MOT endorsment is 200 grt or less. I was grandfathered and never tested hence the the 200 grt restriction. I held a 200 ton master at that time. Do I need the less then 200 MOT removed before I can operater tugs over 200grt? or does my MOT less the 200 with master 1600 cover me? Nmc says no Towmaster web site article tons of misunderstanding says yes. Thanks for any help
Are you still towing? Complete a T.O.A.R… Takes thirty days and you would have Master of Towing Unlimited. Just my $.02
The way I read this…
[I]What about towing vessels of 200 GRT and greater operating upon Near Coastal or Oceans routes? To operate them you must have an [U][B]inspected vessel[/B][/U][U] [B][SIZE=3]“license”[/B][/U] of sufficient tonnage to cover the specific vessel (500 GRT, 1,600 GRT or unlimited) along with a [B][U]towing vessel endorsement[/U][/B] on the [B]“license”[/B] [B]or[/B] a completed [B][U]Towing Officers Assessment Record[/U][/B] (TOAR) signed by a CG-qualified towing vessel designated examiner (T/V DE). This is a simple [B]either/or[/B] equation: if you have the completed TOAR in your possession you don’t need the endorsement on your license and if you have the endorsement on your license then you don’t have to carry around a completed TOAR. ¿Comprénde?[/SIZE][/I]
[I][/I]
…is that you have to have a TOAR or a towing endorsement on your 1600 Oceans [B]“License”.[/B] Once you had that you wouldn’t need the 200 MOT, I read it as the MOT and the 1600 are two different licenses. I’m no authority but that’s just how I read it. Someone tell me where I’ve gone wrong:p
Mr. Jeffrox you are correct.
200 MOT. Is an endorsement
The way I read the reg… a towing endorsement without restrictions would only let you operate tugs up to 199 GRT. Anything higher would require Inspected vessel license I.e. 500\1600
I was going to take another stab at explaining it but the effort seems beyond reason…
Beyond reason ?
If the NMC told you no what then, if anything, did they tell you that you need?
May be a simple matter of the path of least resistance. Take a look at the TOAR you apparently need to complete, it’s Encl 3 to NVIC 4-01. If you’ve been working on a Towboat with a DE, I don’t see where it would take you a day to complete the TOAR. That DE would know your capabilities and would most likely be comfortable signing you off. Problem solved without wrangling with the NMC over CFR’s.
Good point! ! The two options NMC gave me were. Complete a sreersman exam or do a TOAR I’m not on tugs at this time so the toar is dificult. Just thought NMC was wrong on this one
Jeffrox, you are correct. Sss59, I believe that you may have misread the article in Towmasters. Here’s the short explanation: Do you have a license of 1,600GRT? Yes. Do you have MOT? Yes. Then you’re good to go for any motor vessel (towing or otherwise) up to 1,600 GRT. Done.
All [B]oceans/near coastal[/B] MOT licenses are restricted to towing vessels of not more than 200 GRT when operating outside because of the provisions of the Officers Competency Act, although it doesn’t say it on the license/credential. The 1,600GRT license you have takes care of that problem. On inland waters there is no tonnage restriction unless it is otherwise noted for some other reason, like the one you mentioned. In your case they should have just simply removed the 200GRT restriction when you upgraded. Please carefully re-read that post as it is all in there.
NMC is accurate. Anyone who was grandfathered to a towing endorsement wioth a tonnage restriction can remove it by taking the appropriate route Apprtentic Mate (Steersman) exam. It is more common for this to come up for someone with a 100 Ton restriction, buit it also applies to 1 200 Ton restriction.
Also, since you also hold a license for Master 1600 GRT, you can complete a TOAR and document 30 days on a towing vessel, the same way any other Mate/Master 500 GRT or more can.
Mr. Cavo, let me make sure I’ve got this straight. The man has a Master <200GRT and a MOT<200GRT, recently upgrades to 1,600GRT-Oceans but is [B]still[/B] restricted to towing vessels of not more than 200GRT because of the old tonnage restriction? It would seem that the 1,600GRT license would more than make that tonnage restriction obsolete in any logical and sane licensing system (keeping cynicism in check, but just barely). Is there some particularly compelling reason for this, other than arbitrary government absurdity?