Subchapter T: when a vessel becomes an inspected small passenger vessel

What the rule requires

Applicability runs through two gates, and both must be passed before any of the rest of the subchapter matters.

The first gate is size and capacity: the vessel must be less than 100 gross tons and carry 150 or fewer passengers, or have overnight accommodations for 49 or fewer passengers 46 CFR §175.110. Break that ceiling upward — more than 150 passengers, or overnight accommodations for more than 49 — and the vessel is a subchapter K vessel instead.

The second gate is the operation. Any one of these five puts the vessel in Subchapter T:

• carries more than six passengers, including at least one for hire
• is chartered with a crew provided or specified by the owner or the owner's representative and is carrying more than six passengers
• is chartered with no crew provided or specified by the owner or the owner's representative and is carrying more than 12 passengers
• is a submersible vessel carrying at least one passenger for hire
• is a ferry carrying more than six passengers

A 46-foot sportfisherman under charter with the owner's captain aboard and eight anglers passes the ceiling and trips the second item, so she is an inspected small passenger vessel. The same hull with six anglers trips nothing in the list — the six-passenger triggers all read more than six. Uninspected passenger vessels sit under 46 CFR chapter I, subchapter C, with additional requirements in 33 CFR parts 175, 177, 179, 181 and 183 46 CFR §25.01-1.

Five categories are carved out even when the gates are met: a vessel operating exclusively on inland waters that are not navigable waters of the United States, an oceanographic research vessel, a boat forming part of a vessel's lifesaving equipment that carries passengers only in emergencies or drills, and two classes of foreign vessel holding a valid SOLAS Passenger Ship Safety Certificate or an equivalent national certificate .

Who counts toward the number

The trigger turns on the word passenger, and the definition excludes three categories: the owner or an individual representative of the owner (or, for a vessel under charter, an individual charterer or the charterer's individual representative), the master, and a member of the crew engaged in the business of the vessel who has not contributed consideration for carriage and who is paid for onboard services 46 CFR §175.400.

A passenger for hire is one for whom consideration is contributed as a condition of carriage, whether that consideration flows directly or indirectly to the owner, charterer, operator, agent, or anyone else with an interest in the vessel. Consideration means an economic benefit, inducement, right or profit, including money, but not a voluntary sharing of the actual expenses of the voyage by monetary contribution or by donation of fuel, food, beverage or other supplies.

Nine friends aboard your 38-foot vessel; each hands you $40 toward the day's diesel and ice, freely and after the fact. Are you a Subchapter T vessel?

No. A voluntary sharing of the actual expenses of the voyage, by monetary contribution or by donation of fuel or food, is excluded from consideration, so no one aboard is a passenger for hire. With no charter and no passenger for hire, none of the five triggers in §175.110(a) is met, whatever the head count. Change one fact — the $40 becomes the price of the seat — and you have passengers for hire and more than six passengers, which puts the vessel under Subchapter T.

Voyage, route and the newer overlays

A mechanically propelled vessel carrying more than 12 passengers on an international voyage must comply with the applicable requirements of SOLAS in addition to Subchapter T 46 CFR §175.120. A short international voyage keeps the vessel within 200 nautical miles of a port or place where passengers and crew could be placed in safety, with no more than 600 nautical miles between the last port of call in the country of departure and the final destination .

Lifesaving requirements do not come from part 199. That part expressly excludes small passenger vessels, which are covered by subchapters K and T 46 CFR §199.01, and Table 199.10(a) sends a Subchapter T small passenger vessel in all services other than international and short international voyages to 46 CFR part 180 46 CFR §199.10. On an international or short international voyage that same vessel picks up subparts A, B and C of part 199.

Irrespective of build date, a Subchapter T vessel that is not a ferry and either has overnight accommodations for passengers or operates on a Coastwise or Oceans route must meet 46 CFR 181.405, 181.450, 181.500, 185.364 and 185.420(b); one with overnight passenger accommodations must also meet 177.115(c), 177.500(n), 185.410(b), 185.507 and 185.515 . State and local regulation in the same field is preempted 46 CFR §175.100.

Telling it apart

Route, and what the distance is measured from

The route names sound interchangeable and are not. The separating criterion is the datum: offshore distance for two of them, distance from a harbor of safe refuge for the third 46 CFR §175.400.

• Oceans — more than 20 nautical miles offshore on any ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the Bering Sea, the Gulf of Alaska, or similar waters designated by a District Commander.
• Coastwise — not more than 20 nautical miles offshore on those same waters. Same 20-mile figure as Oceans, opposite side of it.
• Limited coastwise — not more than 20 nautical miles from a harbor of safe refuge. This is the one candidates misfile, because they read the 20 and stop.
• Lakes, bays and sounds — a lake other than the Great Lakes, a bay, a sound, or similar designated waters.
• Rivers — a river, a canal, or similar designated waters.

Exposed, partially protected and protected waters are a separate family used only in connection with stability criteria, keyed to distance from a harbor of safe refuge, a seasonal split on the Great Lakes at 1 October and 16 April, and the cognizant OCMI's determination. A route endorsement of Coastwise does not tell you which of those three applies.

Working a question

A 68-foot excursion vessel, two decks, no berths. The OCMI wants the maximum passengers permitted under 46 CFR §176.113.

Upper deck: open, no fixed seating, 34 ft by 14 ft. It contains a stairway enclosure 3 ft by 4 ft, a 2-ft-wide walkway 40 ft long around the deckhouse, and 24 sq ft occupied by the liferaft cradle and the space needed to launch it. Perimeter rail 96 ft, of which 8 ft forward would put standing passengers in the operator's line of sight and 6 ft is at the liferaft.

Main deck: six fixed benches, each 96 inches of seating width, plus an after standing area of 110 sq ft with no seats after exclusions.

1. Fix the criteria available on each deck. Rail, deck area and fixed seating may each be used, and different criteria may be used on different decks and added. Deck area and fixed seating may be combined on one deck; the rail criterion may not be combined with either on the same deck.
2. Reduce the upper deck's gross area to usable area. 34 × 14 = 476 sq ft. Deduct the stairway enclosure (12 sq ft), the walkway (open-deck passageway less than 28 inches wide, so 80 sq ft comes out), and the lifesaving equipment space (24 sq ft). Usable area 360 sq ft.
3. Apply 10 sq ft per passenger. 360 ÷ 10 = 36 passengers by deck area.
4. Test the rail criterion on the same deck for comparison. Deduct the 8 ft that blocks the operator's vision and the 6 ft at the liferaft: 82 ft, or 984 inches. 984 ÷ 30 = 32.8, so 32 passengers. Deck area is the greater and governs this deck. The rail figure is discarded, not added.
5. Work the main deck on the two criteria that may be combined. Fixed seating: 6 × 96 = 576 inches; 576 ÷ 18 = 32. Standing area with no seats: 110 ÷ 10 = 11. Main deck total 43.
6. Sum the decks. 36 + 43 = 79 passengers permitted.

One passenger is permitted for each full increment, so a part increment adds nothing — the 32.8 in step 4 is 32, never 33. And 79 sits below the 150-passenger ceiling with no overnight accommodations, which confirms Subchapter T rather than subchapter K. Only for a vessel on short runs on protected waters, such as a ferry, may the cognizant OCMI give special consideration to an increase above what the criteria yield.

The upper deck in that example gets a row of fixed benches installed along the after rail. Can you now claim the rail figure for the forward half and the seating figure for the benches?

No. The length of rail criterion may not be combined with either the deck area criterion or the fixed seating criterion on an individual deck. You may combine seating for the seated portion with deck area for the unseated portion, then compare that total against the rail figure for the whole deck and take the greater.

Where candidates lose the point

Counting the master or the paid deckhand toward the six. Seven souls aboard reads as seven passengers, and the answer chosen is that a COI is required. The definition excludes the master and a crew member engaged in the business of the vessel who contributed no consideration and is paid for onboard services, so a captain, a mate and six paying anglers is six passengers.

Reading it the other way and excluding anyone called crew. A deckhand who paid for his place aboard fails the "has not contributed consideration for carriage" test and counts as a passenger.

Answering "six" for a bareboat charter. The six-passenger figure is heavily drilled and gets applied everywhere. A charter with no crew provided or specified by the owner or the owner's representative does not reach Subchapter T until more than 12 passengers are carried; with a crew provided or specified, it is more than six.

Treating any head count above six as the trigger. Under §175.110(a)(1) the vessel must carry more than six passengers including at least one for hire. Ten guests, none paying, no charter, not a ferry, not submersible — nothing in paragraph (a) is tripped.

Calling fuel money a fare. Money changing hands looks decisive, and the distractor that says a passenger for hire is aboard is chosen. Voluntary sharing of the actual expenses of the voyage, in cash or as donated fuel, food, beverage or other supplies, is excluded from consideration. Consideration turns on whether the contribution is a condition of carriage.

Going to part 199 for survival craft. It is the general lifesaving part and looks authoritative. For a Subchapter T vessel on a domestic route, Table 199.10(a) sends you to 46 CFR part 180, and part 199 applies only on an international or short international voyage.

Confusing Coastwise with Limited coastwise. Both carry the number 20. Coastwise is measured offshore; Limited coastwise is measured from a harbor of safe refuge.

Check yourself

Your 82-gross-ton vessel is chartered for a corporate outing. The charterer's contract provides no crew and specifies none; 11 guests plus the charterer board. Does Subchapter T apply?

No. On a charter with no crew provided or specified by the owner or the owner's representative, the trigger is more than 12 passengers. The individual charterer is excluded from the count of passengers, leaving 11. The vessel is under 100 gross tons, so the ceiling gate is passed, but no operational trigger in §175.110(a) is met.

A 60-passenger dinner vessel of 94 gross tons adds staterooms with berths for 52 passengers. Which subchapter now governs?

Subchapter K. The Subchapter T ceiling is 150 or fewer passengers, or overnight accommodations for 49 or fewer; overnight accommodations for more than 49 passengers puts the vessel outside Subchapter T under the Note to §175.110(a). The 60-passenger figure alone would not have moved her.

Your Certificate of Inspection is endorsed for a route 15 nautical miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. Name the route.

Coastwise — not more than 20 nautical miles offshore on any ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the Bering Sea, the Gulf of Alaska, or similar waters designated by a District Commander. Limited coastwise would be the answer only if the 20-mile limit were measured from a harbor of safe refuge.

An inspected small passenger vessel is booked for a single day carrying four passengers on a fishing trip. What must the master do before getting underway, and what may the OCMI have relaxed?

Make the announcement required by §185.506(a) before getting underway, which is required when carrying from one to six passengers on anything other than a vessel being operated as a recreational vessel. By endorsement of the COI, the OCMI may relieve the vessel of subparts C, D and E of part 180, subpart C of part 177, parts 178 and 179, and §§184.404 and 184.410, where she satisfactorily complies with the rules for an uninspected or recreational vessel in similar service 46 CFR §176.114. The vessel must still meet the minimum manning on the COI, must not alter the arrangement or land required equipment without the OCMI's consent, and if over 15 gross tons must not carry freight for hire.

One open deck, 25 ft of usable fixed seating in benches and 240 sq ft of usable open deck with no seats. Maximum passengers?

Forty. Seating: 25 ft is 300 inches; 300 ÷ 18 = 16.67, so 16. Deck area: 240 ÷ 10 = 24. Those two may be combined where seats are provided on part of a deck and not on another, giving 40 — and there is no rounding up of the seating remainder. No rail figure is given, so the rail criterion is not in play. Had the deck's usable rail been 105 ft, the rail criterion alone would give 1260 ÷ 30 = 42, which could be taken in place of the 40 but never added to it, and 42 would then be the answer.

Your Subchapter T vessel, mechanically propelled, is to run 18 passengers from Florida to a port in the Bahamas. What extra body of requirements attaches?

SOLAS, applicable requirements of which must be met in addition to Subchapter T for a mechanically propelled vessel carrying more than 12 passengers on an international voyage. Lifesaving also changes source: on an international or short international voyage, Table 199.10(a) applies subparts A, B and C of part 199 to a Subchapter T small passenger vessel, rather than part 180.