National Maritime Center
Keep ’em Safe, Keep ’em Sailing
9/26/2024 Page | 1
Unapproved Courses at Gulf Coast Maritime Academy
An investigation by the Coast Guard has revealed that between January 2018 and November 2023, Gulf Coast
Maritime Academy (GCMA), located near Tampa, FL, failed to provide proper instruction in all Basic
Firefighting, Basic Firefighting Refresher, Basic Firefighting Revalidation, and Standards of Training,
Certification, and Watchkeeping (STCW) Basic Training courses. These courses require live firefighting, which
was not conducted at the school. The impacted courses did not meet the practical requirements contained in the
terms of their respective Coast Guard Approvals. As a result, these courses are not Coast Guard-approved and
certificates issued for these courses are invalid. Due to numerous deficiencies identified by Coast Guard auditors
found at the school, the National Maritime Center (NMC) withdrew approval letters for all courses.
To avoid interruption of the Marine Transportation System, the Coast Guard will allow, for a limited time,
mariners who took the Basic Firefighting and STCW Basic Training to retain endorsements from these courses.
Upon publication of this bulletin, the NMC will begin contacting each mariner who has submitted a Basic
Firefighting or STCW Basic Training course from GCMA in prior or current Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC)
applications. These mariners will be required to retake Basic Firefighting or alternatively they may
submit a Basic Firefighting Refresher or Basic Firefighting Revalidation course to retain their
endorsements.
No action will be required from mariners who took Basic Firefighting Refresher or Basic Firefighting
Revalidation. The mariners who took Basic Firefighting Refresher or Basic Firefighting Revalidation will be
notified for awareness that the courses they attended did not meet the practical requirements contained in the
terms of their respective Coast Guard Approvals.
Failure to act: Mariners who took Basic Firefighting or STCW Basic Training will have until October 1, 2025, to
comply with the above requirements. After this date, the NMC will not process any further applications for these
mariners until this matter is resolved. Any mariner who does not take action regarding their Basic Firefighting
course may be subject to further action to remove the endorsements that require the invalid courses. The NMC
will rely on contact information on file to notify affected mariners. Mariners who took the listed courses between
January 2018 and November 2023 should monitor their e-mails, phone calls, and physical mail for
correspondence from the NMC regarding this matter. Mariners and marine employers with questions about this
bulletin should contact the NMC Compliance Investigations Branch at (304) 433-3466 or via e-mail at
MCFTF@uscg.mil.
Sincerely,
/B. W. Clare/
Bradley W. Clare
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard
Commanding Officer
It took the USCG FIVE YEARS to figure out that this school that they had approved was no good?
The USCG should be paying for the required retraining of these mariners.
School owned by a Florida harbor pilot at that…
I take it they didn’t have this level of FiFi training:
I am one of the victims. Revalidation courses to boot. Application acceptance date = 11 September 2024.
Here is the reply from NMC after asking them for a status update and waiting a week for the https://homeport.uscg.mil/missions/merchant-mariners/merchant-mariner-application-status web page to show something other than An error has occurred retrieving your information! :
Good morning,
Our Professional Qualifications Department emailed a letter to you on (X) and you have (X) days to respond. This letter is requesting additional information as follows:
To qualify for renewal of your STCW, you must submit the following: *360 days of service on a vessel that holds regular training and drills within the last five (5) years; and, *An approved Advanced Fire-fighting revalidation course dated within the last five (5) years. Please provide an approved Advanced Fire-fighting revalidation course. If you do not wish to renew your STCW at this time, please send a statement to amend your application. Reference(s): 46 CFR 11.303; NVIC 09-14
To qualify for renewal of your Proficiency in Survival Craft (PSC)
rating, you must provide either: *An approved PSC course dated within the last
five (5) years; or, *An approved PSC refresher course dated within the last five
(5) years. If BT renewal requirements are met by the sea service option, PSC and
FRB may also be renewed without further information. If you do not wish to renew
your STCW endorsement as PSC at this time, please send a statement to amend your
application. Reference(s): 46 CFR 12.613; NVIC 01-24
To qualify for renewal of your STCW, you must submit the following:
*360 days of service on a vessel that holds regular training and drills relevant
to Basic Training (BT) within the last five (5) years and either: *An approved
BT revalidation course dated within the last five (5) years; or, *Approved Basic
Fire Fighting and Personal Survival Techniques courses dated within the last
five (5) years. Please provide a BT revalidation course or individual courses as
listed above. If you do not wish to renew your STCW at this time, please send a
statement to amend your application. Reference(s): 46 CFR 11.302; 46 CFR 12.602;
NVIC 8-14
The courses you provided from GLFCMA are not acceptable as the courses are not approved.
Thank you for contacting the National Maritime Center. If you require further assistance, please let us know. Have a great day!
My response:
Firstly, please let me know if my discharges sent have been received and are acceptable as I had over 500 days of applicable sea time. Also, I have previously sent in my 3 Revalidation certificates but I will attach them again here.
In response to X’s reply, I am attaching the NMC notification Unapproved Courses at Gulf Coast Maritime Academy dated 26 September 2024 which appeared on your site after I submitted my application.
Basic Training Revalidation - PSC certificate and Basic Firefighting Revalidation cert’s are attached. Concerning Basic Firefighting, please find information from Captain Clare’s letter below. “No action will be required…mariners…will be notified for awareness…”
[Image scrubbed]
Advanced Firefighting Revalidation - AFF Revalidation certificate attached. AFF Revalidation is not listed in Captain Clare’s letter as an unacceptable course.
I hope we can move forward with my renewal.
Anybody else out there affected by this? I am in total agreement with tugsailor’s comment above. I took my courses in 2020. 4 years??? Come on NMC.
No wonder so many people are leaving the industry or not showing interest in a career. Long gone are the days you walk into an REC and get your renewed license back the same day or next…
I am probably at my last renewal which should have been a slam dunk. Now I am thinking about bailing from the industry, or not sailing, anyway.
I will keep you all posted on progress or lack thereof,
JB
I can understand your frustration but when you consider how thin the Coast Guard is spread, it is probably difficult for them to “be everywhere at once”. The Coast Guard is still using 210’s built in the late 60’s. They have to buy a “good used icebreaker” because they cannot get ONE icebreaker to carry out the mission it is intended for. (Operation Deepfreeze.)
That’s debatable.
I had to go look it up. When you mentioned this it made me immediately think of a shyster captain I sailed for years ago who started his own pilots association — but that was in Jacksonville. Thought the ole’ fraud was up to his old ways again.
The USCG has the responsibility for making sure their approved schools actually meet requirements. If they don’t the responsibility is on the USCG who is supposed to monitor them. Writing or calling your senator or house member may make more of a difference than complaining on a forum. Hold your congress critter accountable, that is what they are there for, supposedly. If you don’t get satisfaction don’t vote for them again. Raising hell with your representatives is about all you can do.THEY are responsible for overseeing the USCG
Good comeback.
I can see what your saying, but in my opinion that is just barley an excuse. I haven’t heard(read) any mention of loss of contracts or campus accreditation. Shut them down and help the people that were stolen from(students) recoup fees already spent and future cost of retaking the classes. might be a better choice. Just a rant from an old frat(sp?) lol
I can agree with that. Just can’t wrap my head around the idea of a “sailin’ school” being that deficient in stuff that every sailor should know.
Thanks Chaplain.
Yeah, I could see negating certificates that are totally fraudulent, like shortened classes or fake cert’s, but this is a case of not spraying a hose and the like (which we do weekly on board anyway). I can’t even remember what practical assessments we did or did not do during this course in late 2020. Sheesh.
JB
Master/OIM/ETO/Radio Officer
All the above (I utilize all those ratings above for employment) riding on this back-dated nonsense while I sit overseas and unable to take a 1 or 2-day course that is accepted by the NMC. Ugh.
Thanks jimmyinTEXAS!
I need to point out the fact that Captain Clare’s letter is a bit difficult to read, i.e. sort out what I need personally. I just need to know if my Basic Training Revalidation (Basic Fire Fighting cert & PSC cert) and Advanced FF Revalidation cert are acceptable based only on that letter.
I do not think the agent who replied had a firm grasp on the various details in Capt. Clare’s letter. I don’t blame him either. It’s not an easy read as far as my small brain reads it.
Thoughts? Anyone else out there affected by this announcement?
Sorry, there was an option for submitting paperwork attesting to the training being done on the ship where you are working. Still, it completely grinds my gears to pay for something and then be forced to jump through hoops because someone intentionally didn’t do their job.
JK
It’s not a “comeback” at all…
Good answer?
I thought I was and emailed NMC with details. The reply stated I did not have to do any re-trains.
Good news! I emailed the email address cited in Capt Clare’s notification letter as shown below, and the NMC’s response is inline as well.
Nearly there!
As J.D. Cavo has recommended in the past, my next step would have been Reconsideration.
RE: [Non-DoD Source]
HQS-SMB-DCO-MCFTF
**From:**X
**To:**X
Fri, Dec 6 at 11:51 PM
Good Day X,
I did not have you on my list for Gulf Coast, but I looked up your record and your record is cleared of truncation requirements due to your previous Basic Fire Fighting experience and courses. I looked at the status of your application and it was assigned to an evaluator December 4 and looks like they are verifying your advanced FF certificate as of yesterday.
V/r,
NMC Compliance Investigations
100 Forbes Drive, Martinsburg, WV 25404
Sent: Thursday, December 5, 2024 7:27 PM
To: HQS-SMB-DCO-MCFTF
Subject: [Non-DoD Source]
Hello NMC Compliance Investigations Branch,
Please find 4 documents attached including my 3 STCW Revalidation certificates from late 2020.
I am also forwarding an email thread (inline below) with NMC PQD Agent xx.
I presently have Application ID: xxxxxxx in progress with NMC. I have run up against a roadblock with Revalidation (only) courses from Gulf Coast Maritime Academy. I have read and re-read Capt. Clare’s letter multiple times and I feel that my application is free to move on as detailed in email thread below.
I have not had a reply from NMC for 10 days concerning my application and now it is affecting my ability to gain employment as an upper-level licensed mariner.
Please help.
Best regards,