I just got off the phone with the NMC contractors regarding my credential not being issued yet (approved on March 14th), and the representative informed me that the NMC is currently experiencing “Credential Production Issues”
Just a heads up for anyone that may be experiencing delays also.
Its been ongoing the 28 years I have been sailing. It ebbs and floods from bad to worse. Best I had was 1 month for a simple renewel. That was really not something to be proud of for a simple renewal.
I hear ya, my last renewal was roughly a month as well from REC to issuance however this go around for a raise of grade is currently going on 3 months.
I have a raise of grade marked “Approved to print” on March 3. No movement.
Well, that answers the question I just posted!
It’s only a mariners livelihood in this sh*t economy that is being held up by alleged printer issues.
Interestingly the NMC posted an Announcement on Monday about how the USPS is very slow and credentials can take up to 21 days to get to your house (although apparently one can pay to expedite shipping). But no mention of any delays in printing them.
The main NMC site has a giant banner at the top about increased call volumes. If there is a printing issue you’d think they’d let people know if for no other reason than to cut down on calls.
Nothing like the Maritime Administration proclaiming a mariner shortage while doing absolutely nothing to ensure existing mariners get their credentials in a reasonable amount of time so they can sail.
Update: My credential is now marked as “Mailed by USPS” as of 23 March.
It’s interesting the passport office is having the similar production problems. It just took me 7 weeks to get an expedited passport. I have a hunch it’s due to the “next generation passports” that have been launched recently, however I wonder if there is a supply issue given presumably MMCs come from the same type of machine.
I decided to call the NMC for a status update after reading your reply. The rep I spoke to today informed me that there has been a massive influx of applications due to COVID restrictions being lifted. Each representative I’ve spoken to has given a different reason for the delay. What the actual &$*%.
I hope you can eventually get an acceptable answer. I personally won’t relax until I see the stickers in my hand. It’s STCW stuff, so I can’t sail international without it.
Same waiting on a master international endorsement I have some time untill
The voyage but fuck it was approved for issuance 3/1 and definitely can’t get ahold of anyone in the designated emailer departments to get my DE
Yeah this is annoying. I was helping someone get an original MMC and it is taking forever. He sent in for the med cert while the other things were getting done and he had to resubmit 3 times over 4 weeks until they finally got it received in and issued a med cert. Now I guess he will kick back and wait for the MMC.
FYI,the NMC’s entire credentialing process including evaluations and printing is outsourced to a company called RiverTech LLC. Not sure if they own the production equipment directly but they “own” the turnkey process so this is on them moreso than USCG personnel most likely.
No it isn’t. River Tech was given a contract to provide administrative support. They are not running anything at NMC.
But they are responsible for keeping it all moving. From the press release:
RiverTech will support the NMC’s entire maritime credentialing process – including receiving applications and supporting documentation from applicants, evaluating the applications against documented standards, and issuing appropriate credentials and medical certificates or denying an application.
They aren’t. That press release was written by a marketing professional. It doesn’t actually say that they will do or be in charge of all those things it says “RiverTech will support the NMC’s entire maritime credentialing process…” It wants you to think they are running all those activities, but they aren’t they are supporting the Coast Guard (NMC) to do those things.
I think you are splitting hairs. The majority of labor hours that go into producing the credentials at NMC are currently supplied by contractors to the government, rather than direct labor of government employees. I’m not suggesting that this is good or bad, just the way it is.
As far as who is in charge, yes that is still the Coast Guard. As for the press release, although written by the company, it was approved by the Coast Guard prior to publishing.
Regardless of what or whom is slowing down the process, the onus is on the NMC to be transparent and forthcoming on the cause of, and solution to these delays in issuance.
They are seriously dropping the ball and losing an already questionable credibility amongst the only customer they have.
Just because mariners have little to no recourse in the face of substandard service does not grant NMC the right to leave them in the dark.
This is impacting people’s ability to work, which means it’s impacting the industry. Why the radio silence besides “technical difficulties with our credential production equipment” when clearly this has been ongoing for some time?
