§138.80. Applying for COFRs. — Inbound Citations

(b) The COFR Operator may establish and maintain evidence of financial responsibility using the insurance guaranty method by submitting an Insurance Guaranty Form to the Director.

(1) Each form must be executed by no more than four COFR insurance guarantors accepted by the Director. A lead underwriter is considered one of the COFR insurance guarantors.

(2) The process for establishing and maintaining the acceptability of a COFR insurance guarantor is as follows:

(i) The COFR insurance guarantor must request an initial determination by the Director of the COFR insurance guarantor's acceptability to serve as a COFR insurance guarantor under this subpart, at least 90 days before the date a COFR is required, by submitting information describing the COFR insurance guarantor's structure, business practices, history, and financial strength, and such other information as may be requested by the Director.

(ii) Each COFR insurance guarantor must submit updates to the initial request submitted under paragraph (b)(2)(i) of this section, annually, within 90 days after the close of the COFR insurance guarantor's fiscal year, describing any material changes to the COFR insurance guarantor's legal status, structure, business practices, history, and financial strength, since the previous year's submission, and providing such other information as may be requested by the Director.

(3) The COFR Operator ceases, for any reason, to be an operator of a covered vessel, including when a vessel is scrapped or transferred to a new owner or operator, and a new Application and report have not been submitted to the Director as required by §§ 138.80 and 138.150; or

(a) The Director issues the following three types of COFRs as provided further in § 138.80: Individual Certificates, Fleet Certificates and Master Certificates.

(b) For the purposes of applying the evidence of financial responsibility required under OPA 90 and this subpart and the limits of liability set forth in subpart B of this part, and in addition to any OPA 90 offshore facility evidence of financial responsibility requirements that may apply under 30 CFR part 553, a mobile offshore drilling unit is treated as—

(1) A tank vessel when it is being used as an offshore facility; and

(b) For the purposes of applying the evidence of financial responsibility required under OPA 90 and this subpart and the limits of liability set forth in subpart B of this part, and in addition to any OPA 90 offshore facility evidence of financial responsibility requirements that may apply under 30 CFR part 553, a mobile offshore drilling unit is treated as—

(1) A tank vessel when it is being used as an offshore facility; and

(1) OPA 90 (specifically in 33 U.S.C. 2701): Claim, claimant, damages, deepwater port, discharge, Exclusive Economic Zone, facility, incident, liable or liability, mobile offshore drilling unit, navigable waters, offshore facility, oil, owner or operator, person, remove, removal, removal costs, responsible party, tank vessel, United States, and vessel; and

(2) CERCLA (42 U.S.C. 9601): Claim, claimant, damages, facility, hazardous substance, liable or liability, navigable waters, offshore facility, owner or operator, person, remove, removal, United States, and vessel.

(3) 46 CFR 69.9: Convention Measurement System, foreign-flag vessel, gross tonnage ITC (GT ITC) 1 and gross register tonnage (GRT), tonnage, and U.S.-flag vessel.

(b) For the purposes of applying the evidence of financial responsibility required under OPA 90 and this subpart and the limits of liability set forth in subpart B of this part, and in addition to any OPA 90 offshore facility evidence of financial responsibility requirements that may apply under 30 CFR part 553, a mobile offshore drilling unit is treated as—

(1) A tank vessel when it is being used as an offshore facility; and

(b) For the purposes of applying the evidence of financial responsibility required under OPA 90 and this subpart and the limits of liability set forth in subpart B of this part, and in addition to any OPA 90 offshore facility evidence of financial responsibility requirements that may apply under 30 CFR part 553, a mobile offshore drilling unit is treated as—

(1) A tank vessel when it is being used as an offshore facility; and

(a) To apply for a COFR of any type, the COFR Operator must—

(1) Submit, or cause to be submitted, to the Director, by one of the submission methods provided in § 138.60(c):

(i) An Application;

(A) For an Individual Certificate, list the name of the covered vessel, and the vessel's gross tonnage information, including the measurement system(s) used on the application;

(B) For a Fleet Certificate, instead of listing each individual barge, mark the box with the following statement: “This is an Application for a Fleet Certificate. The largest unmanned, non-self-propelled, non-tank barge to be covered by this Application is [INSERT APPLICABLE GROSS TONS] GT ITC and [INSERT GROSS TONNAGE] GRT”; and

(C) For a Master Certificate, instead of listing each individual vessel, mark the box with the following statement: “This is an Application for a Master Certificate. The largest tank vessel to be covered by this Application is [INSERT APPLICABLE GROSS TONS] GT ITC and [INSERT APPLICABLE GROSS TONS] GRT, as applicable. The largest vessel other than a tank vessel to be covered by this Application is [INSERT APPLICABLE GROSS TONS] GT ITC and [INSERT APPLICABLE GROSS TONS] GRT, as applicable.”

(ii) The evidence of financial responsibility using one of the guaranty methods provided in § 138.110;

(A) For a Fleet Certificate, the evidence of financial responsibility must be in the total applicable amount, determined as provided in § 138.100, for the largest unmanned, non-self-propelled, non-tank barge to be covered.

(B) For a Master Certificate, the evidence of financial responsibility must be in the total applicable amount determined as provided in § 138.100 for the largest tank vessel and largest non-tank vessel to be covered by the Master Certificate.

(iii) The agent for service of process designations required by § 138.130; and

(A) At the time of Application for a Master Certificate, the COFR Operator must submit a report to the Director, indicating: the name; previous name, if applicable; type; gross tonnage and measurement system(s) used, for each vessel covered by the Master Certificate, indicating which vessels, if any, are tank vessels. If a vessel has both a GT ITC and GRT tonnage, specify both gross tonnages.

(B) Six months after receiving a Master Certificate, and every 6 months thereafter, each COFR Operator must submit to the Director, an updated report, separately listing the vessels no longer covered by that Master Certificate. If a vessel has both a GT ITC and GRT, both gross tonnages must be specified. If a vessel has been transferred to another responsible party and the COFR Operator to whom the Master Certificate was issued ceases to be the vessel's operator, the COFR Operator must report the date and place of the transfer, and the name and contact information of the responsible party to whom the vessel was transferred. If the vessels covered by the Master Certificate have not changed from the previous report, the COFR Operator may submit an updated report that indicates no change from previous report.

(2) Pay, or cause to be paid, all fees required by § 138.120.