Inland Waterways
Still TWIC’ed
TWIC remains controversial and costly for the maritime industry.
By Pamela Glass, Correspondent
T
he Transportation Worker Identification Credential program continues to make waves through the maritime industry. Another regulatory deadline looms in August and mariners have been urging the Trump administration to curtail or abolish TWIC as part of the president’s plan to trim federal regulations throughout government. TWIC was created as a security enhancement program after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It requires workers to pass background checks and be issued a biometric credential in order to have unescorted access to certain secure areas of the transportation system, including ports, maritime facilities and vessels. Almost every mariner must carry a TWIC, and many have complained since its creation that the card is a costly and unnecessary burden with little or no security value. The program includes two parts — the credential issued to mariners and the electronic readers used to inspect TWIC cards. While the credentialing is largely complete, and renewals are already underway, the readers are just now coming into compliance. CARD READERS For the past several years, the Coast Guard has been formulating the reader regulation by assessing security risks to three categories of vessels
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and facilities and working closely with the marine industry to understand implications of new regulations on their operations. Along the way, the Coast Guard exempted vessels with fewer than 20 crewmembers and certain shoreside facilities from the readers, including most of the inland tug and barge industry and almost all passenger vessels, after industry groups argued that their operations were not security risks. On Aug. 23, 2016, the Coast Guard published a final rule that preserved many of the exemptions but expanded the scope of areas subject to the reader rule beyond the original proposed rulemaking. It required high-risk vessels and facilities that handle certain dangerous cargoes (CDC), including barge fleeting areas that service barges carrying CDC and have a secure access area with access points for reader inspectors, and terminals that receive passenger vessels carrying more than 1,000 people, to install the readers. The industry was given two years to comply, with a deadline of Aug. 23, 2018. But the rule caused widespread confusion over the definition of “handling” CDC, and it wasn’t clear who had to comply. Industry groups representing a wide range of interests, including maritime shipping, chemical manufacturers and the oil industry, complained to the Coast Guard and Congress. A coalition of stakeholders filed a lawsuit a www.workboat.com • AUGUST 2018 • WorkBoat
U.S. Coast Guard
Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Fairchild of Coast Guard Sector Honolulu, verifies a TWIC card at Young Brothers in Honolulu.
