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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 167 / Wednesday, September 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules
TABLE 8DISCOUNTED COSTS OVER A 10-YEAR PERIOD OF ANALYSIS IN 2020 DOLLARS DISCOUNTED AT 7% AND 3%
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Discounted costs
Undiscounted costs
Year
7%

3%

10

0

0

0

Total

39,505

32,878

36,344

Annualized

4,681

4,261

Benefits The primary benefits of the rule come from the cost savings to mariners in terms of reduced time spent in training and reduced tuition. The modified course content would eliminate the requirement for training using certain firefighting equipment that is not required to be carried on towing vessels operating on inland waters or Western Rivers. Acquiring and maintaining this equipment contributes to the cost of the basic firefighting course. Therefore, the modified basic firefighting course would be shorter, and likely less expensive, than the basic firefighting course. Thus, a mariner would likely prefer to take a modified basic firefighting course instead of a basic firefighting course.
Some mariners may prefer to take the basic firefighting course if they are considering the possibility of working on the Great Lakes, near coastal waters, or ocean routes in the future. However, we do not have data to forecast how many of these mariners might opt, in the future, to take the longer basic firefighting course when they apply for the endorsement as master limited of towing vessels or mate pilot of towing vessels for inland waters or Western Rivers. Because the modified basic firefighting course will be shorter, less expensive, and located in the same area as the basic firefighting course, and because only a small portion of mariners operate in the Great Lakes 5 percent and we already account for them, we assume all mariners eligible to take a modified basic firefighting course will do so. We request comment on our assessment that mariners would prefer a modified firefighting course is correct and if any mariners would prefer to take the longer basic firefighting course.
The basic firefighting training costs $553.38, on average, and lasts 16
hours.32 The Coast Guard estimates that 32 Data on the price of firefighting training was only publicly available for 21 of the 91 approved course providers. Some of the course providers are private companies that train their own employees, some are in schools like the U.S. Naval Academy that teach basic firefighting to their own cadets but do not separate out the training, and others do not
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the modified basic firefighting courses will be 4 hours shorter than the current 16-hour basic firefighting course. The modified basic firefighting course would likely be less expensive than the basic firefighting course, because it would require fewer resources to host, result in less wear and tear on the facility, and require fewer hours of an instructors time.
In the affected population section, we estimate that 440 individuals would apply for an MMC endorsement as a mate pilot of towing vessels or master of towing vessels limited on inland waters or Western Rivers each year, and would be eligible to take the modified basic firefighting course in lieu of the basic firefighting course. Therefore, these applicants would save 4 hours of their time and the difference in costs between the basic firefighting tuition and the modified basic firefighting course tuition.
The Coast Guard estimates that these 440 applicants would be mariners who hold an MMC endorsement as apprentice mate steersman, which is a position between ordinary seaman and mate. The BLS does not have a labor category for apprentice mate steersman; however, the BLS
Occupational Employment Statistics National-Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates for May 2020 lists the wages for both Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels and Sailors and Marine Oilers. 33 Because an apprentice mate steersman is a position between ordinary seaman and mates, we derive their wages by taking a weighted average wage of both Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels and Sailors and Marine Oilers operating appear to offer basic firefighting training despite having an approval permitting them to teach it.
33 Master and mates rates were accessed on April 30, 2021 from: https www.bls.gov/oes/2020/may/
oes535021.htmind. Sailor and Oiler rates were accessed on April 30, 2021 from: https
www.bls.gov/oes/2020/may/oes535011.htm. For both rates the hourly mean wage for the Inland Water Transportation industry was used as this best approximates the wages of towing vessel masters, mates, and deckhands.

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in the Inland Water Transportation industry. We take a weighted average because the duties and responsibilities of an apprentice mate steersman are more similar to that of sailors than they are to mates. Consequently, we rate the sailors wage more heavily than we weight the mates wage. Specifically, we estimate the wage of an apprentice mate steersman by taking one-third of the average mates wage $42.39 and twothirds of the average sailors wage $24.01, yielding $30.14 per hour, rounded.34 We then apply a load factor to account for non-wage compensation and benefits, which results in a fully loaded wage of $46.42.35 Therefore, we estimate the annual undiscounted cost savings for taking shorter courses to be about $81,699 440 endorsements 4
the number of hours saved $46.42
the burdened wage.
Applicants for MMC endorsements as mate pilot of towing vessels and master of towing vessel limited would also save the difference between the tuition for the less expensive, modified basic firefighting course and the basic firefighting course. If we use the tuition for the basic firefighting course, $553.38, as the cost of 16 hours of firefighting instruction, then 12 hours of instruction would be $415.04, 34 $42.39 divided by 3 plus $24.01 multiplied by 23 which equals $30.14.
35 Data on the employer cost of compensation was sourced from the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation one screen data search. We searched for both the total compensation and the wages and salaries of private industry workers in the Transportation and Warehousing Industry yielding BLS series CMU2014300000000D for total compensation and series CMU2024300000000D for wages. To derive the cost of compensation per hour worked, the Coast Guard first took the average of the four quarters of total compensation or $40.84
and the average of the four quarters of wages and salaries of $26.56, rounded. We then divided the total compensation amount of $40.84 by the wage and salary amount of $26.56 to obtain the load factor of about 1.54 for Transportation and Warehousing occupations, rounded $40.84
divided by $26.56 equals 1.54, rounded. To load the wage, the Coast Guard multiplied the estimated hourly wage of $30.14 by the loaded wage factor of 1.54 yielding $46.42, rounded, which accounts for the total cost of compensation per hour of work $30.14 multiplied by 1.54 equals $46.42.

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