COMMENT: What can our industry learn from the three major boating organisations in the US?

By Brian Poole

An understanding of the US marine industry’s three main players is necessary to appreciate how America’s best practice works. What can we learn from the effective policies of the US Coast Guard, American Yacht and Boating Council and the National Marine Manufacturers Association?

The American industry developed over 60 years to be interdependent on the three major players. It's like a three leg stool, take one leg away, and it will topple over. Australian organisations have cherry picked features from the USA. However, to pick some features as stand alone requirements, without being aware of how each requirement  supports the other leads to a less than satisfactory outcome.

Governments make the laws, authorised authorities enforce laws, and the justice system prosecutes unlawful  activity. US pleasure craft activities are covered by Federal Code 33. And the US Coast Guard has the job of policing. The USA is what is sometimes referred to as a “one port country”. The activities of shipping, boating, search and rescue, and homeland security are the responsibility of the USCG, and the law is clearly laid down in the relevant Federal Codes. Australia however is a Commonwealth of Sovereign States, each responsible for its own laws, unless by agreement the responsibility has been passed to the Commonwealth Government. Organisations such as the Australian National Marine Safety Council exist to “attempt” to get some commonality between the state laws and to make doing business more effectively. As I write this, (November 2010) there is disagreement between the PM and the NSW Premier over Industrial Relations law. Gillard wants a common law throughout Australia; Keneally wants to retain the NSW laws that give the unions much influence. Anyone who has obtained a commercial craft in survey from Queensland and tried to put it in survey in NSW will be well aware of the problem. Queensland uses accredited surveyors, while NSW use public servant surveyors. In the USA there is the USCG and it is well and truly in command of the situation.

USCG
The USCG is a career service and a Navy in its own right  responsible for all US waters. It has a fleet of oceangoing  vessels up to the size of a small destroyer, including the US ice breakers which  often  visit our ports on passage to an Antarctic commitment. Responsible also includes the extensive USA inland water systems which transport millions of tons of cargo across the rivers and lakes of the USA. The space shuttle for instance is transported using the inland water system. It has 33,000 full time employees plus part time personnel. It’s the area of pleasure craft interests us in this article. This is the responsibility of the Boating Safety Division which encapsulates the Federal Code into a comprehensive publication in pdf form known as The Boat Builders Handbook and Associated Regulations. It provides comprehensive detailed guidelines for electrical and fuel  systems,  ventilation, capacity and flotation, marine sanitation, etc. It covers all pleasure boats including owner built craft. Because the Australian Builders Plate Specification refers to the ABYC requirements and does not address the USCG requirements there is a misunderstanding among Australian boat dealers, and many boat builders, that it is the ABYC that sets the requirements. By law the ABYC must include as a minimum the requirements of the Federal Codes and often exceed these requirements. There is no such thing as an ABYC compliance plate undertaking the same function of the Australian Builders Plate. What the US law requires is that a USCG approved compliance plate be fitted to the types of pleasure boats nominated in the relevant regulations.

The USCG polices the law and can board and inspect craft for compliance to all the requirements of the regulations. This includes electrical, fuel, sanatory, navigation, safety equipment, etc. Where the situation is fundamentally different is with to offshore use. Australian Authorities struggle with the definition of operating conditions, sheltered water, and smooth water, offshore.etc. An Australian boating officer can police for safety requirements, but can only advise fools about going offshore in dangerous conditions. The USCG officer has the ability to prevent the taking of unnecessary risks by enforcing the freeboard rule which is part of the regulations. Under the freeboard rule a craft cannot operate in a sea state where the wave height is the length of the boat in feet divided by 10 plus the mean freeboard. This means a 30 foot craft with 3 foot freeboard can be told to turn back if the mean wave height is 6 foot. It is fundamental to understand and appreciate how important this is. Ask any volunteer organization in Australia about their opinion of rec fisho’s venturing 20 miles offshore full of confidence in their 16 foot tinny, GPS, and mobile phone. In the USA the maximum operating wave height for the tinny would be less than a metre. Yet it seems to me that so called Australian Safety experts are totally ignorant of the totality of regulations that make up the US system. There is a tendency to cherry pick and look at individual USCG requirements without the appreciation how each supports the other.

ABYC
The American Boat and Yacht Association is a non profit, non government organisation whose mission statement states: ”To develop quality technical practice and engineering standards for the design, construction, maintenance and repair of small craft with reference to their safety”.

The Council dissembles these standard, and is the principal source of related technical information and education for the marine industries. It is specifically a technical organisation drafting and introducing standards that must pass the rigid scrutiny of industry peers and other ABYC members. The standards are not mandatory standards but are so well regarded that most major equipment manufacturers see conformance it as a marketing essential.  Where standards cover USCG requirements, the USCG requirements are mandatory, however often these requirements are minimum and the ABYC requirements exceed them. The ABYC requirements cover subjects that are not required under the US Federal laws as policed by the USCG.

The first two standards produced in 1965 were for life saving equipment and battery chargers. Initially these were known as “safety standards and recommended practice”, today they are called”standards and recommended practice for small craft” The ABYC has an education programmed and the Westlaw Institute of Marine Technology is part of the Council.  ABYC is also represented on US Federal and ISO committees. Typical standards include Visibility in Support Craft, Galvanic isolators for AC power supplies, and standard handbooks. The latter perhaps is more important than many first think. Standardisation of handbooks means that every manufacturer’s handbook follows the same format, with the same chapter numbers covering the same topic. This means that a handbook for a craft that a skipper may not be familiar can be grabbed in a hurry and because the relevant chapter is in the same order on every handbook, and in similar format, the problem can be quickly found and researched.

The ABYC, to my knowledge, is a one of a kind organisation brought about over nearly 60 years by the dedicated efforts marine industry boat builders, who provided the continuation of technical expertise so necessary in a process of effective technical improvement. When I was more active in the Industry I was a member of the ABYC. It was interesting to see how few Australians were members. Half were from the Commonwealth and State Marine Authorities.

NMMA
The third member of this US marine industry trinity is the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) dedicated in its own words to creating, promoting, and protecting an environment where members can achieve financial success in manufacturing, in selling, and in servicing customers.  It is a trade and lobbying organisation and it is one of the worlds best at what it does. The NMMA Engineers Standards Department administers a certification programmed for boats, yachts, boat trailers, PWC’s and marine oils, for those members who go the next step and obtain NMMA audited accreditation, something that is much easier said than done. It has a representative to the ABYC, Society of Automotive Engineers, and the National Fire Protection Agency, the ISO RC standard committee, and importantly the International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA). The NMMA continually runs training with appropriate accreditation recognition, subjects include engineering conformance, CE Certification, and specialized audited of compliance. The compliance programmed it is not mandatory for building a boat, just mandatory if a member want to put a NMMA compliance plate on the craft. The program facilitates manufacturers audited conformance to ABYC requirements.

Here we see the important, but independent, relationship between the two organisations. The formal program requires manufacturers to submit applications, submit to NMMA on site inspections and   follow on audits. The process of external audit being fundamental to accepted quality practice. Importantly the NMMA is the world’s largest producer of consumer boat and sport shows. It is also the co-producer of the International Boat builder’s Exhibition and Conference ( IBEX) which every year was a must attend for persons previously associated with the Australian Marine Industry Association.

I was tempted to make comments about the Australian marine industry in comparison, but it would be unfair. There is a big difference in doing business in a country with 200 million people compared with 20 million and six separate States. Never the less we can all learn something from these three organisations.