Security Levels
SECTOR SAN JUAN
WATERWAYS MANAGEMENT
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Overview
The Waterways Management Branch serves the Coast Guard Captain of the Port function to manage the safe transit of all vessels on the navigable waters. A variety of marine activities and events take place which must be monitored, such as Dredging and marine construction projects, Removal of hazards and obstructions to navigation and Regattas, and parades. These activities, combined with everyday merchant shipping traffic, often present potential hazards that require our oversight and mediation. To promote safe navigation, we work closely with a number of agencies and Coast Guard units including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, local Pilots, Port Authorities, and Coast Guard Aids to Navigation.
Facilities
Prevention operations facility inspectors inspect a wide variety of waterfront facilities to promote and assess compliance with vital safety and pollution prevention regulations. Waterfront facilities in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands that fall under Coast Guard jurisdiction include: Facilities handling explosives or other dangerous cargoes (33 CFR Part 126), Facilities handling liquefied hazardous gas (33 CFR 127), Facilities transferring oil or hazardous material in bulk (33 CFR 154 and 156) and Reception facilities for oil, noxious liquid substances, and garbage (33 CFR 158)
Containers
Modern "INTERMODAL" transportation began in earnest in the 1960s. Commercial carriers discovered they could cut labor costs and time by shipping cargo in standardized 20- or 40-foot trailer bodies (containers) that could be transported by vessel, rail, and truck. Technological advances in the equipment that handled and moved containers contributed to the rapid growth of intermodal commerce. By 1992, the number of containers being shipped annually through the United States was nearly double that of a decade earlier. With this growth came an increase in the transportation of explosives, poisons, and other hazardous materials. Consequently there was an increase in the numbers of deaths and injuries caused by the transportation of these materials. On January 3, 1992, the M/V Santa Clara I encountered heavy weather and lost four containers of arsenic trioxide, a highly toxic pollutant, 40 miles off the coast of New Jersey. This incident coupled with the results of several U.S. Coast Guard pilot programs which revealed a high level of regulatory non-compliance with containerized shipments of hazardous materials, led to greater government oversight of commercial hazardous materials transportation and to the establishment of the U.S. Coast Guard's National Container Inspection Program. Container inspections is one of our newer tasks and it is extremely important as ports in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands handled over 1.4 million TEU's (twenty foot equivalents) per year.
Forms/Permits:
Application to remain in Port-Vessels (Annex F)
Application to remain in Port-Tugs/Barges (Annex G)
Adobe Acrobat Reader (PDF)
MS Word