33 CFR § 401.42 - Passing hand lines.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t33/s401.42"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "33 CFR § 401.42 - Passing hand lines."
title_number: 33
title_name: "Navigation and Navigable Waters"
section_number: "401.42"
section_name: "Passing hand lines."
chapter_name: "GREAT LAKES ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION"
part_number: "401"
part_name: "SEAWAY REGULATIONS AND RULES"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
cfr_part: "401"
---


# 401.42 Passing hand lines.

(a) At locks, hand lines shall be secured to the mooring lines and passed as follows:

(1) A downbound vessel shall use its own hand lines, secured to the eye at the end of the mooring lines, by means of a bowline, which hand lines shall be passed to the linehandlers at the lock as soon as the vessel passes the open gates;

(i) For the #4 mooring wire, the hand line shall be passed to the linehandlers at the lock as soon as the vessel's aft fairleads pass the open gates.

(ii) For the #2 mooring wire, the hand line shall be passed to the linehandlers at the lock as soon as the forward fairleads pass the last HFM unit.

(2) Hand lines shall be passed to upbound vessels by the linehandlers as soon as the vessel passes the last HFM unit, and secured, by means of a clove hitch, to the mooring lines 60 cm behind the splice of the eye;

(3) At Iroquois Lock and Lock 8, Welland Canal, both upbound and downbound vessels shall use their own hand lines as provided in paragraph (a)(1) of this section; and

(4) Upbound vessels of overall length in excess of 218 m in Locks 4 and 5, Welland Canal, shall secure the hand lien to the eye of the No. 1 mooring wire by means of a bowline.

(b) Mooring lines shall not be passed over the side of a vessel in a manner dangerous to a lock crew.

[39 FR 10900, Mar. 22, 1974, as amended at 47 FR 51122, Nov. 12, 1982; 55 FR 48599, Nov. 21, 1990; 61 FR 19551, May 2, 1996; 70 FR 12972, Mar. 17, 2005; 90 FR 1883, Jan. 10, 2025]