NMC: Even Keel, On Course and No Excuses
This week’s gathering of MERPAC, industry and the general public at the National Maritime Center was an eye-opener for more than one reason.
Martinsburg, WV: This week’s quarterly Merchant Marine Personnel Advisory Committee (MERPAC) meeting at the U.S. Coast Guard’s National Maritime Center (NMC) might be described as a routine event on the calendar of the industry volunteers who regularly advise the U.S. Coast Guard on a myriad of policy issues related to mariner credentialing, training and STCW matters. For all those in attendance, however, it was much more than that. In a nutshell, the two day event – followed closely by a Towing Safety Advisory Committee (TSAC) meeting – also served as a “coming out” party of sorts for the newly minted NMC. Although industry still has a few unanswered questions as to the direction and quality of the Coast Guard’s ambitious centralization plan for mariner credentialing, the sheer weight and scope of resources being thrown at this mission by DHS is no longer in question.
Carefully wrapped around a couple of important policy sessions, the Coast Guard put its best foot forward this week as it stepped out in high fashion, brandishing metrics that boast of virtually no application backload and a beefed up medical branch that is scheduled to get much larger in the near term. Focused tours of the mammoth, three story building revealed a secure, tightly run operation that is finally getting its arms around the task at hand. Fully cognizant of the consequences of anything less than getting it right, the Coast Guard leadership has thrown everything but the kitchen sink into the gleaming, high-tech and environmentally correct building, right down to an executive suite of offices that puts the Palace on 2nd Street in Washington to shame. That’s the good news. Unspoken in all of that is the knowledge that failure to execute the mission in the future, using the tools at hand, will give renewed weight to a small, but vociferous group of stakeholders who say that the move away from the local service formerly provided at 17 Regional Exam Centers (REC) was flawed from the beginning.
Now, there is every reason to believe that the nation’s fifth, uniformed military service is moving in the right direction. This week – in public and privately – MERPAC members reported much improved turnaround time for mariner credentials that had, in some cases, shrunk to as little as 26 days. NMC itself now reports an average turnaround time of 31 days. At least two MERPAC committee members told MarEx that they believed that the mechanics of the credentialing process at NMC were sound and would only get better. And, a private tour of the facility on Tuesday evening with NMC Commanding Officer Captain David Stalfort revealed that July’s logjam of 6,800 files had shrunk to less than a half day’s work for the building’s staff of 250 full-time and contract workers. But, that doesn’t mean everybody is happy. Not by a longshot.
In part, by employing two “Tiger” teams of additional personnel pulled from other locations, NMC was able to clear the backlog of applications which precipitated the July Subcommittee hearing and the sometimes less-than-cordial dialogue that emanated from that event. This week, industry was candid with their concerns as to whether the Coast Guard was adequately prepared, in a normal operating mode, to handle the next surge of applications. For his part, Stalfort was adamant that they were. Others questioned the cost-effectiveness of the entire process that eventually brought credential processing to West Virginia from the cozy counters of the REC’s that many mariners had, for decades, come to know and trust. The job formerly administered by about 240 total NMC and REC employees and contractors, is now being accomplished by a combined workforce of about 350 (REC’s included). But the cost of delivering the “average credential” under today’s regime, as compared to the old system was not immediately available this week.
Stalfort insists that the process is not just about cost. The Coast Guard instead chooses to focus on delivering a “consistent” service, across the board to all mariners. And Stalfort reminded all in attendance on Wednesday that the complexity of delivering an STCW-compliant credential in 2009 bears little resemblance to the simpler process of just two decades ago. As such, the days of walking in and out in one day with mariner’s credentials are over for good. And in this tightly controlled process in Martinsburg, so too are the days of “venue shopping” for mariners who would travel to as many as four REC’s until they got the answer they were looking for. It is also unlikely, given the security protocols now in place, that someone will be able manufacture counterfeit credentials – as was the case in Puerto Rico not too long ago – to those who had not earned them.
The Coast Guard’s new method for assessment of mariner fitness for duty, ( NAVC-04-08 ) was a hot topic for conversation, as well. Mariner advocates continue to worry about the scope of the document, its potential use as an ironclad benchmark instead of its original intent as a guideline, and the impact of the NAVC on U.S. mariners now and in the future. It is here where industry and mariners are not yet drinking the Kool-Aid. Underscoring all of that this week was the chilling prospect (likely, so it seems) that U.S. mariners will very soon have to undergo physical exams every two years in order to conform to International rules, a considerably shorter time frame than the current five year protocol. More than one of this week’s attendees also bemoaned the additional costs that this would involve.
It has been more than eight months since the last U.S. mariner credential was delivered from a local REC. Fast approaching the one year anniversary of the centralization process now firmly in place at NMC, Captain David Stalfort looks back on a process he inherited and now, is trying to streamline. “Are there things that I wish we had done differently? Sure, but we’ve learned a lot along the way.” He also points to lessons learned from the time spent at NMC’s temporary home in Kearneysville, WV and says that NMC’s new home is far more efficient, because of it. Ultimately, Stalfort envisions a system that will eventually be driven chiefly by a largely paperless “e-process.” Under that scenario, he predicted an average turnaround time for mariner applications of about 14 days. Heady stuff; especially for those of us who remember July’s ugly hearings on the Hill.
Without a doubt, all of the pieces are finally in place for the Coast Guard to efficiently administer to a domestic population of more than 200,000 mariners that demands as many as 6,000 credentials monthly. Captain David Stalfort also admits, “The program cannot work in a vacuum.” In his Wednesday presentation to more than 100 industry, MERPAC and general public attendees, he promised that the Coast Guard was listening and that it would continue to do so. Given the tools now available to him – bolstered by heightened flag-level attention – there just aren’t any plausible reasons why he can’t deliver on that promise, as well as all of the other missions under his command. The maritime industry and a slew of mariner advocates are watching closely to see that he does. So are we. – MarEx.
MarEx readers can also access our article, first published in December of 2007, regarding the new National Maritime Center in West Virginia. Normally, this article is only available in print, but today, you can click HERE.
Read the Coast Guard’s December 2008 NMC Performance Update by clicking HERE.
Read last week's lead editorial on the National Maritime Center by clicking HERE.
Joseph Keefe is the Editor in Chief of THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE. He can be reached with comments on this editorial at [email protected]. Join the Maritime Executive ‘Linked In’ group at by clicking http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/47685