Need solid answer on MOT

I will make a long story short. I spent several years as mate on ATB had a completed TOAR but when I sent it in it turns out the guy signing it cert was expired by two weeks. I was off to a Masters position in the oil patch so didn’t worry about. So now looking for an ATB job again. Heres my question.

Is there a recency limit on tug sea time? I have 377 days of underway tug sea time between 11/01/06 to 11/03/07

Will getting a completed TOAR from someone like diamond services get me to the MOT endorsement?

I have read up on the MOT but the small print has been wrecking my llife lately I just want to make sure I am not missing something before spending money on the TOAR. Thanks in advance for any insight

Seatime does not expire, but there are recency requirements. It’s usually well worth it to just go to someone like Diamond Marine and get the TOAR knocked out. It does not pay to screw around getting the TOAR.

In your case, if the guy who did you TOAR can renew his DE you should be ok.

Just a nit – there are only 368 days between those dates.

I’m guessing he’s multiplying out the day and a half.

See 46 CFR 11.201(c )(2):
An applicant for a national officer endorsement must have at least 3 months of required service on vessels of appropriate tonnage or horsepower within the 3 years immediately preceding the date of application.

Note the words “required service” this means the “recent” time needs to be part of the service required for the endorsement, i.e. on towing vessels.

Maybe not. There may be some favorable consideration for brief lapses in approval status, but it sounds like this DE’s approval may have expired 10 or more years ago.

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Thanks for the speedy reply. Good catch on my math let me state this another way
2006=175 days
2007=202 days

My sea time sheet from 2005 with them is missing but I have proof of 377 days

I doubt the Man who signed my TOAR is still alive.

I have plenty of sea time in the last three years of appropriate tonnage and horsepower just wasn’t a tug, but I will take your word on that.

So to get back to a mates position I need a TOAR and 3 months of time on a tug?

He’s only required to have 30 days of service on a tug so I’m not sure how this rule applies in this case. It’s unreasonable to require more recency than the total required service. (I’m making an educated guess that he has a Master 1,600.)

Yes 1600 Ton Master Oceans.

This is exactly why some companies refuse to let officers operate tugs with just a license and a TOAR as opposed to actually having a Master or Mate of Towing.

You only need a TOAR and 30 days on a tug on the route you want. I would take the TOAR class and submit for your license and see what they say at the NMC.

Thanks Capt Phoneix. The not hiring with just a license and TOAR is good info. Sounds like when I payed for the DP basic class and after completing it and sending out resumes the companies responded "call us back when you have 30 days offshore on it’. Kind of a catch 22. The funny part is I actually worked on that ATB as Mate for nearly 3 years but I am unqualified for my old job.

Part of the reluctance of a company to hire based ona 500 GRT license and a TOAR is their inability to check the approval status of the DE. The NMC web page only allows you to check the approval of those few DEs who consented to having their personal contact information published on the web. So it is not easy for an employer to check if you are authorized to work on their towing vessels.

The above is why anyone who qualifies for towing vessels via holding a 500 GRT license should get the endorsement in their MMC as soon as possible. Also, if you don’t get the endorsement in the MMC, and you lose the TOAR, you’re out of luck and have to start over, or hope your DE kept thorough records and can re-create, accurately, the one you lost.

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This is good advice. The advice I got from the CG back in 2007 was to hold onto the TOAR and send it in with my next renewal and they would issue the MOT endorsement on my new license then. This was back in the day before the NMC was the smooth oiled machine it is today. My renewal turned into one of those 3 instead of the promised 1 month turnaround the TOAR was part of the Jam up but nobody could tell me what the issue was until getting to the 3rd month. I was on the beach at that point because of an expired license. In no mood to fight it I needed to get back to work so that was the end of my tug time.

Exactly.

I tried that years ago and Boston REC refused to issue me a mate of towing because “it’s legal to sail with just a 500 ton and a TOAR”. (Doreen Parent was in a pissing match with the tug companies that wanted their mates to have it printed on their licenses.) I lost out on a job because of that… (I got a different REC to issue it ~2 months later but the job offer was already filled.)