Regional Examination Center News

The National Maritime Center (NMC) issued a notice stating it is closed due to the government shutdown. The NMC said it is authorized to maintain a small cadre of personnel to support national defense-related credentialing issues. Maintain the Customer Service Center call center: 1-888-IASKNMC (427-5662) and [email protected] will be monitored from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday. Regional Examination Center (REC) and other NMC phone/e-mail addresses will not be monitored. Maintain the NMC website, keeping the industry up to date on its status via the website and all list servers. -Examination appointments are cancelled and must be rescheduled after the shutdown is lifted. Online scheduling is disabled.

Rear Admiral Paul Thomas is the Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy overseeing three Coast Guard directorates: Inspections and Compliance, Marine Transportation Systems, and Commercial Regulations and Standards. The programs include waterways management, navigation and boating safety, ports and facilities, merchant mariner credentialing, vessel documentation, marine casualty investigation, commercial vessel inspections, and port state control. A longtime specialist in Marine Safety…

If there’s anything Capt. Guy Sorensen’s learned in his decades of working with professional mariners it’s that they learn in a variety of ways, times and places. They have to. After spending weeks and months at sea, that precious homeport time can be hard to fill up with training. “That’s why we launched our home study programs,” said Sorensen, who founded the Virginia-based Chesapeake Marine Training Institute in 1992 following a career in the U.S. Coast Guard. “It’s important to us to accommodate all students and offer them a high quality education…

Captain Anthony Lloyd, Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard National Maritime Center. Captain Anthony Lloyd is the Commanding Officer of the National Maritime Center (NMC). He assumed that position in September of 2010 after serving three years as the Coast Guard’s Program Manager for marine environmental response. The nationally-focused Officer in Charge of Marine Inspection (OCMI) tasked with implementing the Coast Guard’s Mariner Credentialing Program, the NMC, and the 20 field units under Lloyd’s direct control…

The Regional Examination Center (REC) located in , , transitioned to become a field unit of the National Maritime Center (NMC), located in , REC was previously a division of the Prevention Department within Coast Guard Sector Baltimore. REC will now become a storefront operation, with staff focused on helping mariners ensure their applications are ready for evaluation. Mariners will still need to verify their identity, get fingerprinted and take their tests at the REC. Completed application packages will be sent to the NMC for evaluation. The NMC will conduct security, professional qualification, medical evaluations and will print and issue credentials. REC will be joining many other RECs who have already transitioned.

The U.S. Coast Guard issued a reminder to U.S. mariners that the "grandfather" clause allowing persons who began service or training in the towing industry before May 21, 2001 to receive a license as master of towing vessels under the old requirements will expire on May 20, 2004. Since the license must actually be issued no later than that date, applications should be submitted well in advance. Persons potentially affected by this issue should contact their local USCG Regional Examination Center as soon as possible. (Source: HK Law)

The U.S. Coast Guard issued an interim rule enhancing the application procedures for the Merchant Mariner Licensing and Documentation program. The major change is that mariners seeking to renew current documents must appear in person at a Regional Examination Center (REC) for fingerprinting during the renewal process. All applicants will undergo criminal and security checks. New tamper-resistant documents will be issued. The rule comes into effect immediately. Comments should be submitted by April 5, 2004. 69 Fed. Reg. 526 (January 6, 2004). (Source: HK Law)

Jim Letten, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, announced that TEAL MURDOCH GRUE, a river pilot and member of the New Orleans Baton Rouge Steamship Pilot's Association ("NOBRA") pled guilty to a Superseding Bill of Information charging him with making false material statements to the United States and misuse of a Federal Pilot's License. GRUE admitted he filed applications with attachments to the Regional Examination Center for the United States Coast Guard in New Orleans, La., in September, 1999 and again in March, 2000, which contained false material statements and entries regarding his personal and marine history with the United States Coast Guard in order to obtain a First Class Pilot's License.

Coast Guard Marine Safety Office (MSO) St. Louis is requesting the assistance of the marine industry, maritime unions, and individual mariners in helping to locate potentially invalid licenses issued from Regional Examination Center (REC) San Juan, Puerto Rico. The license certificates themselves may be representative of a variety of license transactions including original issues, renewals, duplicates and upgrades. The issuing port may be represented as San Juan, Puerto Rico, however, it may appear as another location. MSO St. Louis requests that marine employer's and maritime unions carefully scrutinize the license of their personnel to determine if any have licenses with these serial numbers.

The New Orleans Regional Examination Center (REC) will move to its permanent facility in Mandeville, La., and is scheduled to open on April 2. The Metairie REC location will close permanently at 3 p.m. on Wednesday to start the move. No telephone or email service to the old REC will be available after Wednesday. The REC's hours of operation in Mandeville will be from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. on Friday. The office will remain open for "limited services" during the lunch hour. Testing will be conducted during the same hours, but the latest time to start a new exam is 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and noon on Friday.

The Coast Guard is extending the expiration dates of licenses, merchant mariners' documents and certificates of registry held by merchant mariners impacted by the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The authority for this temporary relief measure was included in the Coast Guard Maritime and Transportation Act of 2006. Details are contained in the notice published Aug. 16, 2006 in the Federal Register. This measure applies to certain mariners holding any of the above credentials that have expired on or after Aug. 29, 2005, or will expire before April 1, 2007. -- Credentials are automatically extended for one year from the expiration date for mariners whose home of record is listed as Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana on their merchant mariner credentials.

The US Coast Guard stated that its Regional Examination Center (REC) in the New Orleans area will reopen on July 28. The REC was temporarily relocated following Hurricane Katrina. Source: HK Law

The Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA) applauds Congress for its passage of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006 (HR 889), which contains a number of key provisions designed to help the offshore maritime sector address licensing concerns and potential threats to the Jones Act, the series of laws that require vessels that operate between ports in the United States be owned, built and operated by Americans. The final conference report on the bill was passed by the House of Representatives on June 27 and by the Senate on June 28. The bill contains a provision that would allow the Coast Guard to extend mariner licenses that are set to expire.

Ensuring the smooth and effective implementation of new licensing requirements for towing vessel officers will be the most critical USCG-industry challenge as the November 2000 effective date approaches, AWO told the USCG. In its comments, AWO reiterated its support for the new approach to towing vessel officer licensing contained in the agency's November 1999 interim rule. "We believe the interim rule, with its emphasis on practical demonstration of operational proficiency, will enhance industry safety by ensuring that newly licensed towing vessel operators meet rigorous standards of training and experience," AWO wrote. Implementing the new requirements will be a significant challenge…

WASHINGTON -- The Coast Guard is moving quickly to restore vital services to merchant mariners in the New Orleans area. Regional Examination Center (REC) Houston, previously reported as havening incurred a loss of communications has been restored to full operating capability. Hurricane Katrina caused the Coast Guard’s REC in New Orleans to close its doors as employees evacuated the city. This REC is the largest in the country and regularly issues 20 percent of all mariners’ credentials issued nationwide. Mariners serving on most commercial vessels are required to hold credentials that provide identification and attest to the mariners’ qualifications. Many mariners in the hurricane devastated area lost their credentials in the subsequent flooding.

Hurricane Katrina forced the closure of Regional Examination Center (REC) New Orleans for an as yet, undetermined duration. The Coast Guard is expanding its services in Memphis to restore services to merchant mariners in need of credentials. Due to space limitations, a temporary facility will be opened up that will be staffed by employees from REC New Orleans. The space has been identified, and office equipment and computers are already in place. Employees are being directed to report to their temporary location in Memphis and this secondary facility should be open for full service no later than 30 September. Operating hours will be the same as those currently in place at REC Memphis. These operating hours and contact information will be published in a future press release.

The U.S. Coast Guard issued a Notice stating that it has opened temporary offices in Morgan City and Memphis to provide services for merchant mariners affected by closure of the Regional Examination Center (REC) in New Orleans. The REC in New Orleans will be reopened when conditions permit. 70 Fed. Reg. 59078 (HK Law).

The Coast Guard is opening temporary offices in Morgan City, La., and Memphis, Tenn., to provide services to mariners affected by the closure of the Regional Examination Center in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. The Morgan City office, now open, accepts completed applications and offers fingerprinting services, identity verification, and administration of oaths for mariners. On Oct. 3, the Coast Guard will open a temporary full-service REC in Memphis, staffed by employees from the REC in New Orleans that flooded after Katrina. This office will be dedicated to restoring services to mariners from the Gulf Coast who were affected by Katrina. These new offices are being opened to quickly restore services to mariners from the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.