b'LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENTAT THE HELM The PVA Alternate Security PlanAnother Reason to Be a PVA MemberJIM SWINDLER // PRESIDENTW eve focused quite a bit of attention on custom- task force, and a PVA staff member, the late Beth Gedney, er service within the passenger vessel industry,took the lead in developing this new security plan.and when I heard the word security recently, I immediately thought of how important security is to ev- Their work included a deep dive into any and all language eryone, customers and crew alike. A misstep in this areathat would be applicable to us as small passenger vessel/could, unfortunately, have catastrophic consequences notfacility owners and operators. The result was a document only to passengers and crew, but it could resonate through- entitled Passenger Vessel Industry Standard for Security out our industry, having a negative impact on our businessof Passenger Vessels and Small Passenger Vessels and Facili-in general. ties, commonly known today PVA ASP holders are notas the ASP.Therefore,Ithoughtitim-portanttoremindvesselsubject to the interpretationsMost of us know that delving and facility operators of theor whims of local inspectorsintoanissuerequiringinter-advantages of the Passengerpretation of the Code of Fed-VesselAssociationsalter- who rotate in and out everyeral Regulations (CFR) can be nate security plan, or ASP ascouple of years.daunting with many challeng-it is known.esalongtheway.Thiseffort wasparticularlychallenging Bywayofbackground,shortlyaftertheterroristat- because it was literally uncharted territory for all involved. tacks of Sept. 11, 2001, it became evident that security,Therefore, having highly respected industry professionals especially in the transportation industry, needed to becommitted to this effort was an immediate benefit to all hardened.Asaresult,CongresspassedtheMaritimePVAmembers.Theresultsoftheireffortscontinueto TransportationSecurityActof2002(MTSA),whichbenefit us even today. The PVA ASP is in its fifth revision requiredpassengervesseloperatorstohavevesselandand the PVA staff works closely with the Coast Guard to facility security plans. negotiate any changes to ensure that the plan continues to be reasonable in scope and application.CorrespondingU.S.CoastGuardregulationsfurther defined that passenger vessels of 150 passengers or moreI recently asked Eric Christensen, PVAs Director of Regu-needed security plans. PVA advocated for the approval oflatory Affairs and Risk Management, to give us an example an alternate security plan, which would be the PVA ASP,of how the ASP continues to benefit us as an industry. He that was ultimately approved by the Coast Guard.promptlyresponded,BeingapprovedattheComman-dant level means the PVA ASP holders are not subject to Recognizing the challenges this new security requirementthe interpretations or whims of local inspectors who ro-wouldplaceonitsmemberswhoownedandoperatedtate in and out every couple of years. This is something I small passenger vessels, PVA immediately formed a taskthink many of us can relate to. In fact, recently while still at force, made up of PVA member volunteers, to develop aGolden Gate Ferries , we were audited by two young Coast security plan that PVA members could use to help themGuard officers. They presented us with several violations, comply with the new federal regulatory security require- as they referred to them. We then met with them, however, ments. Then PVA President Gary Frommelt, the volunteerthis time we had our Alternative Security Plan (ASP) bind-Continued on page 63FOGHORN 4'