MaritimeLicensing.com

Good day to you all,

Yesterday, in a note that I wrote to some industry members, I said that the local REC’s would be processing Original Entry Level and Renewal of Entry Level MMD’s if there were no problems with the physicals or drug tests.

I fear I must retract that bit of good news and revise it somewhat.

Some of the REC’s will be doing the processing of the Original and Renewal Entry Level MMD’s HOWEVER …  (dot-dot-dot), and here is the BIG caveat, the REC’s will ONLY be processing these on a VOLUNTARY basis.

Explanation as I understand it from several REC’s is, it seems that some of the REC’s are still extremely busy, add that to the staffing reductions that they have had to deal with over the past year, and by adding additional work would not be beneficial to either the customers or themselves.

So, here is the deal, tell your folks who are going to apply for an Original or Renewal of a Entry level MMD, to check with their local REC and ask IF they do the processing for entry level MMD’s locally or if it will they be sent back to NMC for processing.

Either way, the MMD’s will be processed, it will just be a matter of how long it takes the mariner to receive their card.

Here is another bit of information I picked up and as I get it, I will pass more detailed information along to you.  Rumor has it that when the TWIC goes into effect in April, and PRESUMING you already have your TWIC card, you will be able to send your paperwork(applications) directly to the NMC without going through the local REC’s.

Wow, am I reading between the lines correctly here?  Bye pass the REC completely?  That does not sound like it bodes well for the future of the REC’s now does it?

I am sure that there will be many many hurdles to jump over before this goes into effect.  I’ll keep you updated.

Touch Keys with you Later,

N.

Here is more information on TWIC, please share this with those you think may need to know.

Touch Keys with you Later,

N.

Important information for Mariners about the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) and the April 15th, 2009 Deadline

The implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) has been phased in over the last several years. This bulletin provides some important information for mariners, particularly those that are new to the maritime industry. The April 15, 2009 deadline is fast approaching and mariners are reminded of the requirements in Title 46 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

• If you hold a merchant mariner credential you are required to obtain a TWIC by April 15, 2009.

• If you do not currently hold a merchant mariner credential but plan to in the future, you will be required to hold a valid TWIC in order to hold a valid Merchant Mariner Credential on or after April 15, 2009.

• The new hire provision of the TWIC regulations only apply to access to a regulated facility. It does not change the requirement for all mariners holding a Coast Guard issued merchant mariner credential to hold a valid TWIC by April 15, 2009.

Many in the maritime community are also aware that there is a proposed regulation that consolidates the current merchant mariner credentials and modifies the application process for merchant mariners. The proposed regulation requires that the Coast Guard use data from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in order to determine if a mariner applicant holds a valid TWIC. If the final regulations adopt the provisions included in the Notice of Proposed Rule Making mariners will need to be identified as a ‘Merchant Mariner’ in the TWIC system. It is important to remember the following information.

• Identify yourself as a ‘Merchant Mariner” To avoid delays in processing your future Merchant Mariner Credential Applications (whether originals, upgrades, renewals or endorsements) it is critical that you identify yourself as a merchant mariner by selecting ‘Merchant Mariner’ as your occupation when you apply for your TWIC.

• TWIC Enrollment In March 2009 TSA will be adding a radio button to their TWIC kiosks that will enable you to simply check the ‘Merchant Mariner’ box indicating that you are currently, or are contemplating becoming a merchant mariner any time in the next 5 years.

• TSA Help Desk For mariners that have already received their TWIC and did not “self identify” Merchant Mariner as their occupation the Coast Guard is working with TSA to automatically change your occupation field. The Coast Guard anticipates that this will cover the vast majority of mariners. However, there may be instances that there will not be matching data for every mariner due to variances in the data contained in either system, such as variations in a mariner’s name between the TWIC application and the merchant mariner credential application. Therefore, TSA is establishing a help desk for mariners to contact to change their occupation field. This should only impact a small percentage of mariners and only when applying for their next Coast Guard issued credential.. At that point, if the Coast Guard does not have matching data from TSA regarding a valid TWIC mariners will be asked to call the TSA help desk.

• Accurate Data on the TWIC and Merchant Mariner Credential Applications Mariners will need to ensure that the biographical information that they supply to TSA during the TWIC application process is the same information included on the Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Application. This will be important as the Coast Guard will be comparing data from TSA to determine if mariners hold a valid TWIC.

To begin the application process for a TWIC, visit TSA’s website at:
http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/twic/index.shtm
Sincerely,
David C. Stalfort
Captain, U. S. Coast Guard

Hi everyone, below is a request from Coast Guard Rear Admiral James A. Watson IV for “eager authors” to do articles on “Grass Roots Efforts” for the Magazine the “Proceedings” Winter edition.  This was from NMC’s “mariner_news@cgls.uscg.mil” dated 23 February, 2009.

You must hurry though, the deadline for these articles is February 27, 2009

Touch Keys with you Later,

N.

Rear Admiral James A. Watson IV, USCG
Colleagues in the Maritime Community,
I’m Rear Admiral Jim Watson, Director of Prevention Policy, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters. I’m a member of the Marine Safety and Security Council and will sponsor
the Winter 2009-2010 issue of the Proceedings of the Marine Safety and Security Council
magazine. If you are familiar with the Proceedings, you know that we include articles on
a wide variety of maritime subjects written by people throughout the community.

I’m seeking a few eager authors for next winter’s issue which will focus on “Grass Roots
Efforts” to improve marine safety and security. I hope to highlight the efforts of mariners
and maritime companies who are working with the Coast Guard to make life better on the
waterfront.

All you have to do is provide a suggested article topic (just the topic, not a whole article) ia email to Dennis Haise at dennis.j.haise@uscg.mil by February 27, 2009. Dennis and I will select from the topics received and reply with the Proceedings author’s guide to those we would like pursue. We will let you know by April and you will have about 6 weeks to submit the article.

We hope you will help us make the Proceedings a preferred magazine within the
maritime community.
Thank you.

Good Morning everyone;

First, let me just say that I, like you, want the industry to be as healthy as possible.  We all know that the Maritime Industry is a tough and physically demanding one so it behooves all of us to be as fit as possible.

Now, on to the reality, because this is becoming  something that even “Science Fiction” would have a problem with.  Lets face it folks, NMC is BROKEN and BROKEN BADLY.

Here is an excerpt from an e-mail that I received.  This e-mail was sent to NMC regarding a mariners attempt to get his license issued. Please try to keep track of the dates.  August of 08 to February of 09.

As always, no names.

My Mariner number is  xxxxxxx and I submitted my application in early August 2008.

In early December, I received a request for information after many calls to your headquarters. This request was prompted by my answer that I take a medication named Frova for migraine headaches. I immediately went to my doctor and he performed a neurological evaluation which I immediately mailed back to your headquarters. To make a long story short, there is nothing to worry about with regard to my migraines and that pretty much sums what was on the evaluation. It is now the end of February, I call often only to get the same answer that my application is in for medical evaluation. This is affecting my income and is getting very frustrating. I really do not think the application should have a new start after the requested information was provided in a very timely manner.

Please expedite the application AND please call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx (my cell number) to fill me in. The people who are tasked with answering telephone questions are kept as much in the dark as I have been. It even states on your web page that you are awaiting information which we both know is wrong. The information was provided more than two months ago. Please respond and expedite.

 R/S

 GWS

Touch Keys with you Later,

N.

Good Morning All;

I guess this will be a “Soap Box” sort of thing, but there is some good news, so let me jump in with the good news first and then I’ll jump up and down on the “Soap Box”.

First, NMC has made a major change, this may not seem like something that is major, but change none the less.  NMC has decided that the REC’s are going to start partly functioning as an REC again.  YES, the REC’s will now be processing and evaluating ENTRY LEVEL MMD’S again.

This, of course, comes with a caveat.  Here it comes, are you ready, the REC’s will be able to evaluate the Entry Level MMD’s as long as there are no “Physical problems, or Vetting problems”.

OK, I can understand that.  Once the REC’s have determined that this mariner is not only physically fit (See the Entry Level Physical on the CG Website-you have to be pretty much dead to fail that one) and the mariner has no criminal back ground, the REC will then send the package back to NMC and NMC will issue the document.

Will this save time for the mariner?  That is yet to be determined, but it sure can’t hurt.  NMC is trying to clear out the 4-8 month backlog in the “Medical Evaluation Branch” and this is a good thing.  However, this would never have been an issue if the REC’s were still up and fully functioning.

I, like you, have read the “Press Releases” from the folks back there that want every one to think that everything is “Peachy” and “We are Wonderful”.  However, being a died in the wool skeptic, I have taken those with a very large mountain of salt.  NMC has had multitudes of problems and are now trying their level best to “save face” and to dig their way out of the gigantic crater that their gigantic ego’s put them in.

Years ago, when this “Centralization” idea first cropped up, the REC’s suggested that in stead of having everything done there that they should do just the License and MMD Renewal’s and the original Entry Level MMD’s.  But like all good ideas posed to the “powers that be” that idea was SQUASHED and squashed hard.  The REC’s were told that they “did not have the BIG picture” and could not possibly know what would be best.

Then the REC’s were told that “Industry” wanted this change.  Well over my long career, I have talked to one or two people in the “Industry” and by golly, not ONE OF THEM SAID THAT THEY WANTED THIS.  Hum, makes you wonder don’t it?  Who really did want this?  Industry? Academies? Unions? The Mariner? Politicians? The choices are many and I truly believe that it was a small, but powerful, contingent of all of them.

Let’s be honest here, the REC’s were not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but most of them worked their asses off and for the most part did a damn good job.  Now NMC, the entity that we were told “everyone” wanted,  is BROKEN and it is broken badly and no band-aid that I know of can fix it.

Giving the work back to the REC’s would be the smart thing to do.  The REC’s should be doing the evaluations, after all, they are the ones that meet and greet the mariner, they are the ones that can ask the mariner face to face about a problem that they are having with anything in that mariners file, they are the ones where the rubber meets to road, they are the ones where the fenders meet the dock.

My solution is to have the REC’s do the evaluations, and let NMC do all of the medical evaluations, vetting, issuance’s of Licenses, Documents and STCW’s from that great big new multi-million dollar building.

OK, I’m steppin down off the box now so I can let some one else take a turn.

Touch Keys with you Later,

N.

Hi everyone,

Here is the latest from the NMC.

Touch Keys with you Later,

N.

Important information for Mariners about the Transportation Worker
Identification Credential (TWIC) and the April 15th, 2009 Deadline

The implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) has beenphased in over the last several years. This bulletin provides some important information formariners, particularly those that are new to the maritime industry. The April 15, 2009 deadline isfast approaching and mariners are reminded of the requirements in Title 46 of the Code ofFederal Regulations:
•   If you hold a merchant mariner credential you are required to obtain a TWIC by April 15,2009.
•   If you do not currently hold a merchant mariner credential but plan to in the future, youwill be required to hold a valid TWIC in order to hold a valid Merchant Mariner
Credential on or after April 15, 2009.
•   The new hire provision of the TWIC regulations only apply to access to a regulated
facility. It does not change the requirement for all mariners holding a Coast Guard issued
merchant mariner credential to hold a valid TWIC by April 15, 2009.

Many in the maritime community are also aware that there is a proposed regulation that
consolidates the current merchant mariner credentials and modifies the application process for merchant mariners. The proposed regulation requires that the Coast Guard use data from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in order to determine if a mariner applicant holds a valid TWIC. If the final regulations adopt the provisions included in the Notice of Proposed Rule Making mariners will need to be identified as a ‘Merchant Mariner’ in the TWIC system. It is important to remember the following information.
•   Identify yourself as a ‘Merchant Mariner” To avoid delays in processing your future Merchant Mariner Credential Applications (whether originals, upgrades, renewals or endorsements) it is critical that you identify yourself as a merchant mariner by selecting ‘Merchant Mariner’ as your occupation when you apply for your TWIC.
•   TWIC Enrollment In March 2009 TSA will be adding a radio button to their TWIC
kiosks that will enable you to simply check the ‘Merchant Mariner’ box indicating that
you are currently, or are contemplating becoming a merchant mariner any time in the next 5 years.
•   TSA Help Desk For mariners that have already received their TWIC and did not “self identify” Merchant Mariner as their occupation the Coast Guard is working with TSA to automatically change your occupation field. The Coast Guard anticipates that this will cover the vast majority of mariners. However, there may be instances that there will not be matching data for every mariner due to variances in the data contained in either
system, such as variations in a mariner’s name between the TWIC application and the
merchant mariner credential application. Therefore, TSA is establishing a help desk for
mariners to contact to change their occupation field. This should only impact a small
percentage of mariners and only when applying for their next Coast Guard issued
credential.. At that point, if the Coast Guard does not have matching data from TSA
regarding a valid TWIC mariners will be asked to call the TSA help desk.
•   Accurate Data on the TWIC and Merchant Mariner Credential Applications
Mariners will need to ensure that the biographical information that they supply to TSA
during the TWIC application process is the same information included on the Coast
Guard Merchant Mariner Application. This will be important as the Coast Guard will be
comparing data from TSA to determine if mariners hold a valid TWIC.

To begin the application process for a TWIC, visit TSA’s website at:
http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/twic/index.shtm

Sincerely,
David C. Stalfort
Captain, U. S. Coast Guard

For the latest information on STCW and Licensing, visit our web site at http://www.uscg.mil/nmc.
The National Maritime Center is an ISO 9001:2000 Compliant Organization.

Since my last posting titled “PLAN OF ACTION FROM NMC”, NMC came out with a “CORRECTION”.  In the first edition, it seams that in paragraph 1, the sentence reading ‘UNFORTUNATELY, THE NMC’S AVERAGE PROCESSING TIME OF 80 DAYS IS ACCEPTABLE TO THE COAST GUARD’.

According to a correction that came out from NMC shortly after posting this, this sentence should read;

‘UNFORTUNATELY, THE NMC’S AVERAGE PROCESSING TIME OF 80 DAYS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO THE COAST GUARD’.

Touch Keys with you later.

N.

Here is the latest update from the NMC concerning Reducing Mariner Credentialing Processing Times.

Touch Keys with you Later,

N.

Actions to Reduce Mariner Credentialing Process Time
Over the past 6 months, the National Maritime Center (NMC), the Coast Guard’s new
centralized mariner credentialing processing facility in Martinsburg, West Virginia, has issued over 36,000 credentials, with 18,000 of those credentials issued in less than 30 days.  Unfortunately, the NMC’s average processing time of 80 days is acceptable to the Coast Guard.  While a significant portion of delays in processing is attributable to the complexity of completing the application, delay for 16 percent of the mariners’ applications is primarily the result of production bottlenecks in the medical evaluation stage of the credential evaluation process.  These delays are attributable to insufficient capacity at the NMC medical evaluations branch and the Coast Guard is taking the following actions to immediately remedy the problem and ensure it does not occur again in the future.

Immediate Process Changes: NMC has recently implemented enhanced risk-based screening procedures to streamline the medical evaluation process and is prioritizing all credential renewals in inventory to focus on current credentials that have expired or are near expiration. This process is specifically designed to increase the throughput of credentials and keep working mariners employed. Thousands of credentials have been produced and mailed to mariners as a result of these changes.

Surging Resources Aggressively: The Coast Guard is surging a full range of national resources to assist with medical screenings and evaluations including: Coast Guard active duty medical staff from around the country; Public Health Service personnel; and, medically trained Coast Guard Auxiliary members. NMC has also increased the medical staffing contract in our medical evaluations branch to provide additional capacity.

Building Long Term Capabilities: The Coast Guard is taking measures to expand the size of the medical evaluation branch to ensure long-term capacity to meet the medical evaluation demand and ensure efficient processing. The Coast Guard is also looking to enhance the credentialing database to enable electronic workflow to improve both the efficiency and quality of the screening and evaluation process.

Maritime Industry Outreach: The Coast Guard is aggressively communicating its action plans to industry leaders, marine employers, individual mariners and the public via the NMC Call Center, NMC website and the Coast Guard list server. Moreover, NMC is providing its Regional Examination Centers (REC) with clearer medical guidelines so they may better serve the mariners in completing their applications and avoiding generally preventable delays.

Sincerely,
David C. Stalfort
Captain, U. S. Coast Guard