SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title; Associated Form; and OMB Number: Vessel Operation Reporting; ENG Forms 3925, 3925B, 3925C, 3925P, 3926, 3931, and 3932; OMB Control Number 0710-0006.

Needs and Uses: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC) administers this consolidated information collection to maintain a comprehensive database of domestic waterborne commerce. Under this program, the primary respondents—comprising owners, agents, masters, and clerks of commercial vessels, as well as individuals or corporations transporting their own goods on U.S. navigable waters—submit Vessel Operation Reports (ENG Forms 3925, 3925B, 3925C, and 3925P) detailing cargo tonnages, port-to-port vessel movements, and passenger or vehicle counts. This operator data is supplemented by annual vessel characteristic descriptions (ENG Form 3931) and operating company profiles (ENG Form 3932) to uniquely identify active vessels and ensure correct operator attribution in the database. Additionally, operators of marine docks and terminals engaged in handling waterborne commerce voluntarily submit arrival and departure logs (ENG Form 3926) to provide an independent statistical baseline that verifies the accuracy of operator-reported movements.

This collection of information is legally mandated under Section 11 of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1922 (codified in 33 U.S.C. 555) and the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 99-662), which require the USACE to collect waterborne commerce data and support the Department of the Treasury's verification of shipper user fees. WCSC processes these raw submissions to produce vital annual publications, including Waterborne Commerce of the United States (WCUS) and Ports and Waterways. Congress and federal planners rely on these statistical outputs to perform mandatory cost-benefit studies that justify the allocation of the USACE annual navigation budget, direct project planning, and guide the operations and maintenance of existing waterways. Furthermore, this database serves as the primary resource for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Internal Revenue Service to verify compliance and receipts for the Harbor Maintenance Tax and the Inland Waterway Fuel Tax. The integration of independent dock logs and annual vessel descriptions provides a vital quality-control mechanism, allowing WCSC to resolve record conflicts, prevent duplicates, and capture critical, otherwise unreported domestic cargo movements, such as millions of tons of petroleum shipping out of Valdez, Alaska. Without this data collection, the federal government would lack the comprehensive, defensible statistics necessary to manage and secure the nation's waterborne transportation infrastructure.

Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit; State, Local or Tribal Government.

Vessel Operation Reports (ENG Form 3925/3925B/3925C/3925P)

Annual Burden Hours: 9,000.

Number of Respondents: 500.

Responses per Respondent: 12.

Annual Responses: 6,000.

Average Burden per Response: 1.5 hours.

Record of Arrivals and Departures of Vessels (ENG Form 3926)

Annual Burden Hours: 600.

Number of Respondents: 100.

Responses per Respondent: 12.

Annual Responses: 1,200.

Average Burden per Response: 0.5 hours.

Description of Vessels (ENG Form 3931/3932)

Annual Burden Hours: 4,000.

Number of Respondents: 4,000.

Responses per Respondent: 1.

Annual Responses: 4,000.

Average Burden per Response: 1 hour.

Total

Annual Burden Hours: 13,600.

Number of Respondents: 4,600.

Annual Responses: 11,200.

Frequency: Monthly (ENG Forms 3925, 3925B, 3925C, 3925P, 3926); Annually (ENG Forms 3931 and 3932).

91 FR 35184