Average Processing Time News

Rear Admiral Paul Thomas develops and maintains policy, standards and program alignment for waterways management, navigation safety, boating, commercial vessels, ports and facilities, merchant mariner credentialing, vessel documentation, marine casualty investigation, inspection and port state control activities. He serves as the Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy overseeing three Coast Guard directorates: Inspections and Compliance, Marine Transportation Systems, and Commercial Regulations and Standards. A specialist in Marine Safety, Security and Environmental Protection, he has served at the Marine Safety Center in Washington, DC and many others before that. His other tours include, among others, service as Commanding Officer of USCGC CAPE ROMAIN.

International Container Terminal Services, Inc.’s (ICTSI) Subic Bay Freeport unit, Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC), in partnership with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC), recently opened a one stop shop (OSS) to fast track documentary transactions in Subic Bay’s container terminals. Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras led the launching of the OSS together with SBMA chairman and administrator Roberto Garcia and SBITC general manager Roberto Locsin. Located inside the New Container Terminal 1, the OSS is next to the administration offices of SBITC and several satellite offices of shipping lines. With the OSS, port users can expect shorter document and cargo processing times as SBITC, BOC and SBMA are housed in one location.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Neil Kornze today testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a bill that would increase the efficiency of oil and gas permitting on public lands and coordination among agencies by continuing the BLM’s Oil and Gas Pilot Office program. During his testimony on S. 2440, the BLM Permit Processing Improvement Act of 2014, Kornze described the key role pilot offices play in supporting the Administration’s All-of-the-Above energy strategy to create jobs and reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. “The Obama Administration has made it a priority to permit environmentally responsible oil and gas development on the nation’s public lands,” Kornze said.

While maritime industry trends are often unexpected and rarely coincide with the Federal budget cycle, MARAD currently holds sufficient funding to support $735 million in Title XI loan guarantees and we fully intend to use it. As a reader of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News, you’re probably familiar with Title XI shipbuilding loan guarantees and the program’s importance to the U.S. Maritime Industry. The Title XI program—administered by the Maritime Administration (MARAD)…

In testimony before Congress, PVA President Bill Clark told legislators that the Coast Guard’s centralized system for issuing merchant mariner credentials must be improved. Captain Clark, who is also co-owner and operator of South Ferry, Inc., of Shelter Island, N.Y. testified before the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation on the subject of the Coast Guard’s National Maritime Center and Mariner Credentials. “PVA is aware of too many instances in which a mariner has been prevented from working because of credentialing processing delays,” said Captain Clark. •    Coast Guard credentials are essential for a mariner to be able to obtain a new job or to continue in an existing one. Delays threaten a mariner’s livelihood.

In a prepared statement for Congressman, Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, addressed a hearing on The National Maritime Center and Maritime Credentials. A live webcast of the hearing is available at http://transportation.house.gov. “We convene today to review the operations of the National Maritime Center and the issuance of merchant mariner credentials. “Over the past 18 months, the Coast Guard has consolidated the credentialing functions that were previously provided at 17 Regional Exam Centers into the National Maritime Center – and the Center opened at a new facility in West Virginia. “The Coast Guard has also made significant changes to the actual credential that it issues.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced ongoing actions to reduce processing time for mariner credentials. The National Maritime Center, the Coast Guard's new centralized mariner credentialing processing facility in Martinsburg, W.Va., consolidated the Mariner Licensing and Documentation program that was performed in the 17 Regional Examination Centers throughout the nation approximately one year ago. The NMC receives mariners applications and conducts detailed evaluations to ensure the mariners' meet applicable requirements for the credentials sought. All mariners are evaluated in three areas including a professional qualification evaluation, a safety and security evaluation, and a medical evaluation.