IMCA Responds to Congressional Advancement of U.S. Crewing Legislation

On March 29, 2022 the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation – H.R. 6728 – that included a provision in Section 518 (as we have previously reported) that would impose burdensome new citizenship-based restrictions on crews of foreign flag vessels that work on offshore energy projects on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”). 

This provision would require mariners on foreign flagged vessels operating on the OCS be either U.S. citizens, permanent residents (green card holders), or citizens of the nation of the flag state of the vessel, in contravention of longstanding international principles that regulation and credentialing of crews are matters under the sovereign control of vessels’ flag states. 

While IMCA is disappointed in this development, the proposal must now be considered in the U.S. Senate.  Final action is expected by the end of the year. IMCA and other key industry organizations will continue work hard to object to advancement of this provision in order to protect the interests of IMCA members and their continued interests in supporting the ambitious plans to expand offshore energy production in the U.S.