Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding
July 27, 2005 [Email]

Duclos Corporation

GLADDING-HEARN
SHIPBUILDING

One Riverside Avenue • Box 300 • Somerset, MA 02726-0300, USA,(GMT-5) • Tel. (01) 508-676-8596
Fax.(01) 508-672-1873 Website: gladding-hearn.com Email: peterd@gladding-hearn.com

Office of Technical and Information Services
Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board
1331 F Street NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20004-1111

Subject: ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Passenger Vessels

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Duclos Corporation dba Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, an associate member of the Passenger Vessel Association(PVA), submits these comments regarding your efforts to develop accessibility guidelines for passenger vessels, as published in the Federal Register of November 26, 2004. Please include these comments in the official record of both of your dockets as well as the corresponding U.S. Department of Transportation Docket.

Since our founding in 1955 our company has constructed more than 355 commercial vessels of all kinds, of which more than 60 are passenger vessels. Since 1987 we have been vigorously pursuing business in the high-speed catamaran passenger ferry market and have delivered 32 vessels to customers throughout the US and in Bermuda. Years before ADA became a reality, we were designing features into our high-speed catamaran ferries to accommodate passenger with disabilities. It has been our belief that in order for passenger vessels to be taken seriously as a form of public transportation, they must accommodate passenger with disabilities. We are pleased to point out that the high-speed catamaran ferries Flying Cloud and Lightening, illustrated in the Volpe Center’s “Door Coaming Research Report”, were delivered by our company in 1996.

We are aware that PVA has been in frequent contact with the Access Board regarding this rulemaking, including testifying at public hearings three times in 2005. We support the following points that PVA has stressed in its comments:

• Providing access in marine and aquatic environments is more challenging than doing so at sites on land. Waves, wind, tides, fluctuating river and lake levels, and various types of vessel motions must be contended with. In designing, constructing, and operating a vessel, there is no higher priority than safety.
• There is a wide diversity of types, sizes, and functions of passenger vessels in the U.S. domestic passenger vessel fleet. Most vessels to be affected by the Access Board action are not cruise ships.
• Designing accessibility into a vessel becomes exponentially more difficult as the size of the vessel decreases. Therefore, it is appropriate to have one set of guidelines for vessels with a capacity of more than 150 passengers, and a different set for vessels with a smaller passenger capacity.
• The Access Board should develop its guidelines for vessels with a capacity of more than 150 passengers first, waiting until after this work is complete before further studying and developing guidelines for smaller vessels.
• The recommendations of the Passenger Vessel Access Advisory Committee, on which four PVA members participated, are preferable to the proposed guidelines put forth by the Access Board.
• Any provision that passenger vessels be required to provide vertical access between decks should be tailored very narrowly to those vessel designs and capacities that are capable of safely and efficiently containing elevators or lifts. In many cases, installing elevators in vessels is technically infeasible, structurally impractical, and potentially unsafe. This is particularly true for small vessels.

In addition to the above PVA comments we would like to point out some areas where the proposed regulations are in conflict with the current USCG Subchapter K passenger vessel regulations.

• V307.4 Vertical Clearances – This section requires 80” minimum vertical clearance(i.e. ceiling height). USCG Subchapter K 116.800 requires a minimum of 74”.
• V410.2 Exit Stairways – Though out this section the width requirements are measured between the handrails. USCG Subchapter K 116.438 measures the stair tread width. The standards should be the same.
• V502.2 Treads and Risers – The maximum stair riser and minimum tread width yields a maximum stair angle of approximately 36 degrees. USCG Subchapter K 116.438 has a maximum allowable angle of 40 degrees.

While these points may seem minor, they are in conflict with established USCG regulations to which hundreds of existing vessels are designed to meet. Stair dimensions and deck heights are some of the most basic elements around which vessels are designed. Changing these basic design elements will adversely affect vessel stability, safety, passenger capacity, speed and cost.

Thank you for this opportunity to participate in your rulemaking process.

Respectfully,

Peter J. Duclos
President
Director of Business Development