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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 164 / Friday, August 27, 2021 / Proposed Rules
mariner identity, service, and qualification. In order to serve under the authority of an endorsement on an MMC, a mariner must be physically and medically qualified for that endorsement, as evidenced by holding a valid medical certificate. Medical certification is not an endorsement of qualification on an MMC, but, instead, is a separate document certifying medical and physical fitness to serve in the capacity of an endorsement listed on the MMC.
The second reason mariner turnover is not factored into this analysis is because the FCP endorsement represents a maritime qualification that can lead to permanent employment with a pilot association. This career path is highly competitive, due to the rigorous, time-consuming, and highly specialized training required. As presented in table 3, data from MMLD indicates that the number of mariners holding an FCP
endorsement has declined at an annual average rate of 0.48 percent in the last 11 years. We did not include mariner turnover because the Coast Guard believes it would have had a negligible effect in assessing the costs or cost savings for this regulatory analysis. The Coast Guard requests public comment on mariner turnover and, in particular, the number or percentage of retirements by mariners regulated by this proposed rule. Depending on data received by public comment, we may reconsider our approach to considering mariner turnover for the final rule.
Industry Cost Savings The proposed rule would amend current requirements so the results of the annual physical examinations for pilots serving on vessels of 1,600 GRT
or more would be submitted to the Coast
Guard on form CG719K medical certificate application every 5 years instead of every 2 years, unless one of the four conditions noted previously, and listed in 11.709b, is applicable.1
Although mariners would still be required to complete an annual physical examination, the cost savings to industry would include the time savings of the affected population not having to submit an application for a merchant mariner medical certificate every 2
years, either by mail or in person, after the second year of the implementation of this proposed rule.
Mariners may submit medical certificate applications either directly to the NMC via email or to a Regional Examination Center REC via email, fax, or mail. Additionally, applications may be submitted in person if submitted to a REC. Cost savings to industry would include the time saved by mariners by faxing, emailing, mailing, or delivering in-person the form CG719K to the Coast Guard on a less frequent basis.
According to data obtained from MMLD, 95 percent of medical certificates issued to FCPs, or 3,702 0.95 3,897, are renewed every 2 years. The remaining 5
percent are renewed annually, for those pilots with time-limited certificates due to medical waivers. Since the merchant mariner medical certificate for FCPs and masters or mates serving as pilot is only valid for 2 years under current regulations, half the total number of FCPs and masters or mates serving as pilot are currently applying for a new medical certificate each year.
Current data from MMLD indicates that 195 mariners from the affected population would not benefit directly under this proposed rule. This is the number of FCPs and masters or mates serving as pilot who have been issued
medical certificates with a waiver, which require more frequent reporting of the results of their annual physical examinations to the Coast Guard. These mariners would still be required to submit the form CG719K to the Coast Guard on an annual basis.
Growth Rate of Affected Population We analyzed the number of endorsed FCPs who would experience a reduction in burden from only needing to submit their medical certificate applications once every 5 years, after the second year of the implementation of this proposed rule, as opposed to once every 2 years under current regulations. We then analyzed the number of endorsed FCPs to estimate a population growth rate for mariners with MMCs who would become newly endorsed as FCPs. Using 11 years of data from MMLD, from 2010
to 2020,2 which is presented in table 3, we found that the number of endorsed FCPs is declining at an average rate of 0.48 percent per year. The highest number of endorsed FCPs was observed in 2017, while the lowest number of endorsed FCPs was observed in 2020.
We used this estimated annual average decline of 0.48 percent as a constant when forecasting the endorsed FCP population for the next 10 years.
This constant rate represents the average decline experienced by FCPs throughout a 10-year period of analysis. We applied this 0.48 percent rate of decline to both the affected population in current regulations the baseline and the affected population in this proposed rule to determine the number of medical certificate application submissions in a given year. Table 3 presents the MMLD
data used to determine the estimated annual rate of decline for the endorsed FCP population.

TABLE 3SUMMARY OF ENDORSED FCPS
Endorsed FCPs a
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1

Year 2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020

Growth rate %
b t = at-at-1/at-1 100

4,259
4,292
4,262
4,237
4,200
4,171
4,219
4,297
4,263
4,217
4,055

0.77
0.70
0.59
0.87
0.69
1.15
1.85
0.79
1.08
3.84

Avg
Max

4,225
4,297

0.48

1 Pilots must still undergo annual physical examinations. However, those pilots who are not required to submit the results to the Coast Guard
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during the 5 years would simply maintain personal copies.

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2 Data for each year are complete because the data are captured and recorded each July.

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