Advocacy Report
By: MIASF Staff
Date posted: Jan 27, 2021 Wed
This month the US Coast Guard held a Port Everglades Harbor Safety Committee meeting via Zoom. There was an interesting NOAA presentation on hurricane seasons past and future. A record-breaking 30 named storms this past season was alarming. There is optimism for less activity this coming season. Port Everglades gave a presentation on the widening and dredging project which is moving forward with significant progress being made. Port Everglades started off the year with the delivery of the new gantry cranes which are very impressive and promise to help grow the cargo sector of the market. The US Coast Guard presented several issues they want the boating public to be aware of. Unlicensed charters continue to be a focus and problem as they have resulted in injuries and as recently as this month, a fatality. The other issue the Coast Guard brought attention to was event permits for large gatherings of boats. Communicating with them at Sector Miami is the best way to determine if a permit will be needed.
On January 26th all air passengers entering the United States will be required to have a negative COVID-19 test within 3 days before boarding a flight. This may cause challenges for some crew on rotation but ultimately it is a reasonable step to slow the spread of COVID-19 variants around the globe. We continue to work to solve crew visa issues. I would encourage Captains and management teams at this time to try to hire those who have valid B1 visas. Recently a local agency indicated they felt there was abuse of the visa one time waiver by some and it would not be permitted to continue.
Florida’s legislative session begins in March and prior to that MIASF would like to convene an Advocacy Committee to review and help prioritize issues. If you are a current MIASF member and are interested in joining the Advocacy Committee, please send an email to patience@miasf.org.