Maritime News

Update – Mailing Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC) Applications to Regional Examination Centers (RECs) & Pay.Gov User Fee Payment

This bulletin update provides additional information on procedures to follow when mailing credential applications to a Regional Examination Center. New procedures were implemented in April 2009 to enable mariners to mail their applications to one of the 17 RECs throughout the country. These changes simplify the application process by enabling mariners to send photocopies of supporting documentation when submitting applications by mail. Additionally new procedures streamline the payment of user fee options for mariners and the Coast Guard.

Application Submission: Title 46 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 10, Subpart B 10.209 General Application Procedures allows mariners to mail copies of their entire application package, including sea service and training / course certificates, to one of the 17 Coast Guard Regional Examination Centers for processing. Merchant mariner applicants submitting copies by mail are advised that application documentation may be subject to auditing and verification by the Coast Guard during the evaluation process.

In the near future, the Coast Guard National Maritime Center (NMC) intends on providing capabilities for mariners to submit credential applications by e-mail. Sending your application packages to RECs via e-mail will save further time and money and is a more secure method of delivery. Stay tuned to our website, www.uscg.mil/nmc, for more information on this.

User Fee Payments: In 2005, the NMC introduced the availability of www.pay.gov and ushered in a fast, convenient and more secure method for paying user fees. Since then this electronic link to the U. S. Department of Treasury has provided tens of thousands of mariners a safe, quick and reliable way to pay user fees.

1. To ensure quick processing of applications submitted to an REC by mail, mariners can pay user fees via www.pay.gov. The application package submitted to an REC must include a copy of the pay.gov payment receipt.
2. For quicker turnaround times for administering exams and issuing credentials, user fees identified during the evaluation process, such as testing or issuance fees, can be paid via www.pay.gov. The notifications sent to mariners regarding testing or credential issuance fees will contain quick links to the www.pay.gov web site.
3. The Coast Guard cannot accept cash or money-order payments submitted with applications mailed to an REC.

In February 2009, the National Maritime Center (NMC) officially began its Course Oversight and Auditing Program (COAP) focusing on U.S. Coast Guard approved merchant mariner training courses throughout the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii and Guam. There are over 2,200 Coast Guard approved training courses offered at some 286 locations nationwide and several distance learning courses online. Our COAP teams have already audited several Merchant Mariner Schools with great success, so you may visited soon.

The goal of the COAP is to ensure persons and agencies offering U.S. Coast Guard approved training are performing their duties in a manner that meets all applicable regulatory and policy standards.

COAP operations are conducted through announced or un-announced visits and audits by NMC and the 17 Regional Examination Centers (REC). Every approved Merchant Mariner School can expect an announced administrative visit at least once per year and an announced audit every five years. We will also be conducting unannounced audits. Some schools, depending on the number of courses offered, will be visited more frequently. Before an announced visit or audit, each Merchant Mariner School will receive a Pre-Audit Notification Letter. The preferred method of delivery for the letter will be electronically via e-mail. Included in the letter will be a Pre-Audit Checklist to assist the schools and the COAP teams in preparing for the audit.

Merchant Mariner Consulting is a USCG license application consulting service operated by a colleague of mine, Mike Clooten. I am training Mike to provide the same high level of consulting expertise that my students have come to expect from me. This service will be available to my students FREE over the summer and to others at a very reasonable cost. Visit Mike Clooten on the web at http://uscg-mmc.net

Contact Information:

• Mike A. Clooten
• mike@uscg-mmc.net
• 503-504-8226

Vessels at anchor NEVER show their side lights. Showing side lights indicates to an approaching vessels that you are underway. Any vessel approaching from your starboard side and seeing your green side light is the stand-on vessel. As the stand-on vessel they are required by the Rules of the Road to maintain course and speed and are expecting you to maneuver around behind their stern. Any vessel approaching head-on and seeing both red and green side lights would be required by the Rules to maneuver for a port to port passage and would be expecting the same action from your vessel. A vessel at anchor is required by the Rules of the Road to show an all-round white light forward where it can best be seen. This indicates to an approaching vessel that you are at anchor and that they should maneuver around your vessel at a safe distance.

The intend of lights on a vessel is NOT to make the vessel more visible. The lights shown by vessels are a form of communication that is used to signal the conditions that the vessel is being operated under and how they expect other vessels to interact with them. Showing incorrect lights is communicating false information to approaching vessels and places every vessel involved in danger. As a matter of good seamanship and safety I encourage all mariners to learn and follow the Rules of the Road and always show the correct lighting configuration for your vessel. Click here to view the Rules of the Road online.