How to renew?

[cappyjon431]

Are there any services for americans left in the old "Canal Zone"? Back in the day, an American citizen was treated as if they were in a little part of the US there. Your US Coast Guard license will no longer be valid regardless of renewal status in April (June?) unless you have a TWIC. I don't know if you have/need a panamian license for what you are doing there, but if you are actually operating on your US license, it will not be valid in a short time.

One of my captains recently renewed in Miami, kind of. All of his renewal paperwork went to the Miami office as usual, and they forwarded it to West Virginia. All of Miami's paperwork, including your records are now in W. VA. Some of the other REC's are there also, including New Orleans. I don't know when the changeover will be complete. He said the renewal process was much smoother than when he had to deal with the REC, and his renewal was 6 weeks instead of 6 months, including a 200 ton upgrade.

Unfortunately there are no longer any of these types of services available in the Canal Zone. It looks like the TWIC card is a necessity if I want to keep my USCG ticket in good standing (I really don't need it here, but you never know what might happen in the long run). I have a Panamanian license for running my boats down here, although I am usually stuck in the shop and very rarely get to go out any longer.

 

[ComputerJoe]

At first I thought I had to drive to Detroit (250 miles one way) but procrastination paid off. There are a lot of TSA TWIC center in the US protectorates...don't know where Panama falls but check out TWIC™ - Transportation Workers Identification Credential and see if it helps.