Coast Guard November 18, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard is establishing a special load line regime for certain unmanned dry-cargo river barges to be exempted from the normal Great Lakes load line assignment while operating on Lake Michigan. Depending on the route, eligible barges may obtain a limited domestic service load line assignment or be conditionally exempted from any load line assignment at all. This special load line regime allows river barges operating under safe conditions to directly transport non- hazardous cargoes originating at inland river ports as far as Milwaukee and Muskegon, resulting in significant cost savings.