Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

This week's archived print article features an exclusive article, first published in the December 2007 print edition of THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE. In that article, MarEx examines the Coast Guard's decision to centralize its mariner-documentation operations to a single location in West Virginia. As the Coast Guard celebrated the official opening of it's National Maritime Center (NMC) last week, it is worth looking back to see how they got there.

It is no secret that the U.S. Coast Guard has centralized and moved their National Maritime Center to West Virginia. On October 10 2007, however, Managing Editor Joseph Keefe traveled to Kearneysville, West Virginia to see, first-hand, the physical manifestation of the biggest overhaul of mariner-documentation procedures in many decades. The U.S. Coast Guard has at long last embarked upon an ambitious but long overdue quest to change the way it interfaces with America's commercial mariners.

The move to scale back operations at the 17 Regional Exam Centers (RECs) and centralize all credential-production operations – among other things – at Martinsburg, West Virginia has many in the maritime community concerned. And because the Coast Guard's recent performance in many things related to marine safety has been lacking, there could be real merit to those who would question whether the nation's fifth uniformed military branch is up to the task. Read on to see how and why.

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