USA

Notice of Arrival to the US Coast Guard

Timely submission of an accurate Notice of Arrival (NOA) is of paramount importance when en route to any US destination; failure to comply with the NOA procedures can lead to significant delays to the ship.

It is now apparent that the US Coast Guard (USCG) considers any changes in a ship's circumstances as invalidating any NOA already submitted, requiring the submission of revised information to the USCG and possible delay to the ship.

A recent example of this problem arose when two stowaways were discovered by the crew on board a ship on arrival at Houston. The ship had previously given the requisite 96 hour NOA to the USCG. The USCG took the view that the change of circumstances - the presence of the two stowaways on board - invalidated the NOA, necessitating the submission of revised information and requiring the ship to wait outside Houston - potentially - for a further 96 hours. In the event, after negotiations, the US authorities agreed to reduce this 'delay' to 24 hours.

The Association has received a number of notifications from Members of the failure of the USCG to accept NOAs since November last year. In addition to the above, examples include; an omission to provide the 24-hour telephone number of the ship's port agent, an omission to provide the correct prefix number for the ship's satellite telephone and also the failure to amend NOAs for the second, and subsequent, US ports of call. Whilst these errors may seem minor, they can lead to significant delays to the ship.

Should circumstances on board change or errors or omissions be noted in a NOA after submission, then revised information should be sent to the USCG in a timely manner in accordance with the regulations. If 96 hours or more remain in the voyage, then changes must be submitted as soon as practical but at least 24 hours before entering the port or place of destination. If less than 24 hours of the voyage remain, then the changes must be submitted as soon as practical but at least 12 hours before arrival in port.

Lawyers advise that there is no requirement to re-submit the whole NOA, rather the amended information should be included in the relevant section of the NOA form and be submitted, making reference to the time of filing the original NOA.