[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 198 (Thursday, October 15, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53000-53002]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-24788]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration


Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA)

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of open season for enrollment in the VISA program.

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Introduction

    The VISA program was established pursuant to section 708 of the 
Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (DPA), which provides for 
voluntary agreements for emergency preparedness programs. VISA was 
approved for a two year term on January 30, 1997, and published in the 
Federal Register on February 13, 1997 (62 FR 6837). Approval is 
currently extended until October 1, 2009, as published in the Federal 
Register on November 7, 2007 (72 FR 62898). The Maritime Administration 
has requested approval from the Department of Justice (DOJ) for an 
extension of VISA for another two years. DOJ is currently reviewing the 
extension request, and we expect that approval will be forthcoming.
    As implemented, the VISA program is open to U.S.-flag vessel 
operators of oceangoing militarily useful vessels, to include tugs and 
barges. An operator is defined as an owner or bareboat charterer of a 
vessel. Tug enrollment alone does not satisfy VISA eligibility. 
Operators include vessel owners and bareboat charter operators if 
satisfactory signed agreements are in place committing the assets of 
the owner to the bareboat charterer for purposes of VISA. Voyage and 
space charterers are not considered U.S.-flag vessel operators for 
purposes of VISA eligibility.

VISA Concept

    The mission of VISA is to provide commercial sealift and intermodal 
shipping services and systems, including vessels, vessel space, 
intermodal systems and equipment, terminal facilities, and related 
management services, to the Department of Defense (DOD), as necessary, 
to meet national defense contingency requirements or national 
emergencies.
    VISA provides for the staged, time-phased availability of 
participants' shipping services/systems to meet contingency 
requirements through prenegotiated contracts between the Government and 
participants. Such arrangements are jointly planned with the Maritime 
Administration, U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), and 
participants in peacetime to allow effective and best valued use of 
commercial sealift capacity, to provide DOD assured contingency access, 
and to minimize commercial disruption, whenever possible.
    There are three time-phased stages in the event of VISA activation. 
VISA Stages I and II provide for prenegotiated contracts between DOD 
and participants to provide sealift capacity to meet all projected DOD 
contingency requirements. These contracts are executed in accordance 
with approved DOD contracting methodologies. VISA Stage III will 
provide for additional capacity to DOD when Stages I and II commitments 
or volunteered capacity are insufficient to meet contingency 
requirements, and adequate shipping services from non-participants are 
not available through established DOD contracting practices or U.S. 
Government treaty agreements.

VISA Annual Enrollment Open Season

    The purpose of this notice is to invite interested, qualified U.S.-
flag vessel operators that are not currently enrolled in the VISA 
program to participate. The annual enrollment is intended to link the 
VISA enrollment cycle with DOD's peacetime cargo contracting to ensure 
eligible participants priority consideration for DOD awards of cargo.
    Alignment of VISA enrollment and eligibility for VISA priority will 
solidify the linkage between commitment of contingency assets by VISA 
participants and receiving VISA priority consideration for the award of 
DOD peacetime cargo. This is the only planned enrollment period for 
carriers to join the VISA program and derive benefits for DOD peacetime 
contracts during the time frame of October 1, 2009 through September 
30, 2010. The only exception to this open season period for VISA 
enrollment will be for a non-VISA carrier that reflags a vessel into 
U.S. registry. That carrier may submit an application to participate in 
the VISA program at any time upon completion of reflagging.

Advantages of Peacetime Participation

    Because enrollment of carriers in the VISA program provides DOD 
with assured access to sealift services during contingencies based on a 
level of commitment, as well as a mechanism for joint planning, DOD 
awards peacetime cargo contracts to VISA participants on a priority 
basis. This applies to liner trades and charter contracts alike. Award 
of DOD cargoes to meet DOD peacetime and contingency requirements is 
made on the basis of the following priorities:
    <bullet> U.S.-flag vessel capacity operated by VISA participants 
and U.S.-flag Vessel Sharing Agreement (VSA) capacity held by VISA 
participants.
    <bullet> U.S.-flag vessel capacity operated by non-participants.
    <bullet> Combination U.S.-flag/foreign-flag vessel capacity 
operated by VISA participants, and combination U.S.-flag/foreign-flag 
VSA capacity held by VISA participants.
    <bullet> Combination U.S.-flag/foreign-flag vessel capacity 
operated by non-participants.
    <bullet> U.S.-owned or operated foreign-flag vessel capacity and 
VSA capacity held by VISA participants.
    <bullet> U.S.-owned or operated foreign-flag vessel capacity and 
VSA capacity held by non-participants.
    <bullet> Foreign-owned or operated foreign-flag vessel capacity of 
non-participants.

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Participation

    Any U.S.-flag vessel operator organized under the laws of a state 
of the United States, or the District of Columbia, who is able and 
willing to commit militarily useful sealift assets and assume the 
related consequential risks of commercial disruption, may be eligible 
to participate in the VISA program. The term ``operator'' is defined in 
the VISA document as ``an ocean common carrier or contract carrier that 
owns, controls or manages vessels by which ocean transportation is 
provided''. Applicants wishing to become participants must provide 
satisfactory evidence that the vessels being committed to the VISA 
program are operational and that vessels are intended to be operated by 
the applicant in the carriage of commercial or government preference 
cargoes. While vessel brokers, freight forwarders and agents play an 
important role as a conduit to locate and secure appropriate vessels 
for the carriage of DOD cargo, they may not become participants in the 
VISA program due to lack of requisite vessel ownership or operation. 
However, brokers, freight forwarders and agents should encourage the 
carriers they represent to join the program.

Commitment

    Any U.S.-flag vessel operator desiring to receive priority 
consideration in the award of DOD peacetime contracts must commit no 
less than 50 percent of its total U.S.-flag militarily useful capacity 
in Stage III of the VISA program. Participants operating vessels in 
international trade may receive top tier consideration in the award of 
DOD peacetime contracts by committing the minimum percentages of 
capacity to all three stages of VISA or bottom tier consideration by 
committing the minimum percentage of capacity to only Stage III of 
VISA. USTRANSCOM and the Maritime Administration will coordinate to 
ensure that the amount of sealift assets committed to Stages I and II 
will not have an adverse national economic impact. To minimize domestic 
commercial disruption, participants operating vessels exclusively in 
the domestic Jones Act trades are not required to commit the capacity 
of those U.S. domestic trading vessels to VISA Stages I and II. Overall 
VISA commitment requirements are based on annual enrollment.
    In order to protect a U.S.-flag vessel operator's market share 
during contingency activation, VISA allows participants to join with 
other vessel operators in Carrier Coordination Agreements (CCAs) to 
satisfy commercial or DOD requirements. VISA provides a defense against 
antitrust laws in accordance with the DPA. CCAs must be submitted to 
the Maritime Administration for coordination with the Department of 
Justice for approval, before they can be utilized.

Vessel Position Reporting

    If VISA applicants have the capability to track their vessels, they 
must state which system is used in their VISA application and will be 
required to provide the Maritime Administration with access to their 
vessel tracking systems upon approval of their VISA application. If 
VISA applicants do not have a tracking system, they must indicate this 
in their VISA application. The VISA program requires enrolled ships to 
comply with 46 CFR Part 307, Establishment of Mandatory Position 
Reporting System for Vessels.

Compensation

    In addition to receiving priority in the award of DOD peacetime 
cargo, a participant will receive compensation during contingency 
activation for that capacity activated under Stage I, II and III. The 
amount of compensation will depend on the Stage at which capacity is 
activated. During enrollment, each participant must select one of 
several compensation methodologies. The compensation methodology 
selection will be completed with the appropriate DOD agency, resulting 
in prices in contingency contracts between DOD and the participant.

Application for VISA Participation

    New applicants may apply to participate by obtaining a VISA 
application package (Form MA-1020 (OMB Approval No. 2133-0532)) from 
the Director, Office of Sealift Support, at the address indicated 
below. Form MA-1020 includes instructions for completing and submitting 
the application, blank VISA Application forms and a request for 
information regarding the operations and U.S. citizenship of the 
applicant company. A copy of the VISA document as published in the 
Federal Register on November 7, 2007, will also be provided with the 
package. This information is needed in order to assist the Maritime 
Administration in making a determination of the applicant's 
eligibility. An applicant company must provide an affidavit that 
demonstrates that the company is qualified to document a vessel under 
46 U.S.C., section 12103, and that it owns, or bareboat charters and 
controls, oceangoing, militarily useful vessel(s) for purposes of 
committing assets to the VISA program.
    New VISA applicants are required to submit their applications for 
the VISA program as described in this Notice no later than 60 days 
after the date of publication of this Federal Register notice. 
Applicants must provide the following:
    <bullet> U.S. citizenship documentation;
    <bullet> Copy of their Articles of Incorporation and/or By Laws;
    <bullet> Copies of loadline documents from a recognized 
classification society to validate oceangoing vessel capability;
    <bullet> U.S. Coast Guard Certificates of Documentation for all 
vessels in their fleet.
    <bullet> Copy of Bareboat Charters, if applicable, valid through 
the period of enrollment, which state that the owner will not interfere 
with the charterer's obligation to commit chartered vessel(s) to the 
VISA program for the duration of the charter.
    <bullet> Copy of Time Charters, valid through the period of 
enrollment, for tug services to barge operators, if sufficient tug 
service is not owned or bareboat chartered by the VISA applicant. Barge 
operators must provide evidence to MARAD that tug service of sufficient 
horsepower will be available for all barges enrolled in the VISA 
program.
    Approved VISA participants will be responsible for ensuring that 
information submitted with their application remains up to date beyond 
the approval process. Any changes to VISA commitments must be reported 
to the Maritime Administration and USTRANSCOM not later than seven days 
after the change. If charter agreements are due to expire, participants 
must provide the Maritime Administration with charters that extend the 
charter duration for another 12 months or longer.
    Once the Maritime Administration has reviewed the application and 
determined VISA eligibility, the Maritime Administration will sign the 
VISA application document which completes the eligibility phase of the 
VISA enrollment process.
    After VISA eligibility is approved by the Maritime Administration, 
approved applicants are required to execute a joint VISA Enrollment 
Contract (VEC) with DOD [USTRANSCOM and the Military Sealift Command 
(MSC)] which will specify the participant's Stage III commitment, and 
appropriate Stage I and/or II commitments for the period October 1, 
2009 through September 30, 2010. Once the VEC is completed, the 
applicant completes the DOD contracting process by executing a Drytime 
Contingency Contract (DCC)

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with MSC and, if applicable, a VISA Contingency Contract (VCC) with 
USTRANSCOM (for Liner Operators). The Maritime Administration reserves 
the right to revalidate all eligibility requirements without notice.
    For Additional Information and Applications Contact: Jerome D. 
Davis, Director, Office of Sealift Support, U.S. Maritime 
Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. 
Telephone (202) 366-0688; Fax (202) 366-5904. Other information about 
the VISA can be found on the Maritime Administration's Internet Web 
Page at http://www.marad.dot.gov.

(Authority: 49 CFR 1.66)

    Dated: October 8, 2009.

    By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
Murray Bloom,
Acting Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. E9-24788 Filed 10-14-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P