Voices: “How will the US Coast Guard’s new rules on offshore cranes affect businesses in the Gulf?”

The proposed rule’s incorporation of API’s robust industry standards will ensure that businesses are using safe and proven technologies to design, build and use offshore cranes. In doing so, the rules will further enhance the safety of America’s oil and natural gas industry, which has been a bright spot in our economy and put the U.S. on a solid path toward domestic energy security.

 

Holly Hopkins, Senior Policy Advisor, API

It is not clear that the proposed rule will have a significant impact on MODU’s, OSV’s and floating offshore facilities since the newer specifications and standards for cranes the rule seeks to adopt are already in wide use – although expanding the number of crane certifying organizations as proposed by the Coast Guard should be a helpful change and seems to have worked well with respect to other types of vessels.

 

Charlie Papavizas, Partner, Chair, Maritime Practice, Winston & Strawn LLP

Since [the Coast Guard is] incorporating industry standards that have presumably been used by most of the industry to purchase their equipment, it should have minimal effect.

 

Alan Spackman, Vice President, Offshore, International Association of Drilling Contractors