Expirations and Renewals

 Time flies. It's hard to believe that many TWICs are reaching their expiration date. Thankfully, there is an alternative process to renew a TWIC for those whose cards are now expiring. As long as you are a U.S. citizen or U.S. national and your TWIC is expiring before December 31, 2014, all you have to do is call 1-866-347-8942 and pay $60, to order a new TWIC which will be good for another three years.  A client recently did this over the phone with all their employees and found it to be a very simple process. Of course, once the TWIC is ready, it will require a trip to a TWIC center to pick it up and activate it.

Another expiration which is coming up is the first batch of Bridging Program Uninspected Towing Vessel (UTV) examination stickers. Some vessel operators are under the impression that they must renew their examination sticker. This is not the case. UTVs are still uninspected until the Final Rule of Subchapter M goes into effect. The UTV examination program had been around for many years before the Bridging Program, a program which is similar to the commercial fishing vessel voluntary examination program. The Coast Guard decided to use the UTV examination program as part of the Bridging Program to ease the transition to inspected towing vessel status. Once a towing vessel has been examined and has received a sticker, it has fulfilled its obligation under the Bridging Program and there is no further requirement to have the sticker renewed.