Under 46 USC Section 7507, Merchant Mariner Credentials may only be extended for up to one year from their date of expiration. Merchant Mariner Credentials (MMC) (National Endorsements only) that expire between March 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 are extended until the EARLIER of
o June 30, 2021; OR
o One (1) year after the initial expiration date of the credential (i.e., one year after the expiration
date printed on the credential).
This announcement pushes back license expirations even further due to the impact of COVID-19. Now licenses and STCW Certs have validity up to 1 year from date of expiration. This is, I think, the 3rd time they’ve pushed them back, previously it was until Dec 31, 2020.
My question is this, I hold an 3rd Mate Oceans license, that expired in May of 2019. I had planned on doing my STCW renewals, such as BST, Adv FF, Radar (bc I work shoreside), and I think Leadership which I have to add. I was scheduled to take all these classes in March, when of course. they were all canceled. There have been no new openings for these classes with institution I wanted to use, I was going to take them with the Continuing Ed Department at SUNY, and taking them elsewhere would require me to travel many states away at great expense to my self. Its already expensive enough since I have to pay for them. At this rate, even with the extension, unless I can somehow find the time off from work and somehow find a course provider It looks like I’ll end up loosing the license. It’s just frustrating, but I figured I’d check in to see how everyone else is doing. Any suggestions? I’m sure I’m not the only one dealing with this difficulty. Will the USCG end up extending it even further once again?
Have you looked at Northeast Maritime Online? Most of their classes are offered either completely online or lecture and exams online with the practical demonstrations only taking 1-2 days. One of my QMEDs just completed Advanced Fire Fighting 100% online.
Continuity does nothing for STCW endorsements. And since no classes are required for renewal of national endowments, I cannot see why he wouldn’t renew the national side.
That is true continuity does not do anything about STCW but those can be dealt with when the classes are available. If your credentials expire more than a year ( I don’t know how these extensions affect that) you run the risk of having to retake all the exams to renew the national license. Putting them into continuity stops that clock.
How did that work?? I’m trying to figure out how that would be CG approved… and whether I’d be comfortable with someone that hasn’t done the practicals in the burn field in my crew.
There are no “burns” for Advanced Firefighting. That is only done in basic. Advanced Firefighting is all about command and control during a fire emergency. It was not a very fulfilling course imho.