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I guess by now all captains have heard about the requirement for them to get a TWIC card in order to keep and renew their captain's license. It's been discussed at length on other boards. But I wonder if ANYONE has bothered to call their US Senator and ask them to support S 3377?? This bill will do away with the TWIC requirement for most of us 'regular' captains. From all the other boards I've read, it seems like everyone is more worried about how to go about getting this card, or how long it will take to get it, than they are about trying to get rid of the requirement. Does it make more sense to spend five minutes calling your US Senator, or spending an hour (or two or three) getting a card that most captains will never need? And handing TSA and Lockheed Martin $132 of your money every time you need to renew??If you are a USCG captain and do not need access to secure areas of a port (that doesn't include just riding through the port area on your boat), please call your US Senator and ask for their support of S3377. The bill is currently in a sub-committee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Here are the important guys that especially need to be pressed on passing S 3377:
Cantwell Washington
Snowe Maine
Boxer California
Carper Delaware
Demint South Carolina
Inouye Hawaii
Kerry Mass.
Klobuchar MN
Lautenburg NJ
Nelson Fla
Smith Oregon
Stevens Arkansas
Sununa NH
Vitter LA
Wicker Miss.
Please call your US Senator regardless. But if any of these are your Senator, they are the ones that especially need to hear from captains. Please call them, then post their response here on the board. Calls from their own state mean alot more to them than my calling them from out-of-state.
I got a TWIC card and tried using it to go through security at the airport last week. The TSA guy asked me what the heck it was. I showed him the TSA stamp on the back and he said fine, now where is my drivers license or my passport, he was not taking any stinking TWIC card!!
It's not intended to use in airports. Only for access to secure areas of a port facility. It's useless unless you need it for that. Which is why we need to call our US Senators and ask them to support S 3377 and get rid this stupid requirement!
Thanks for that info, was told about a possible recall of this TWIC for Captains that charter in and out of the same port that doesn't have international traffic. This is another way for Big Brother to get another fee from us that won't be enforced anyway. I'll pass it on to the other Captains in my area and hope that the also will contact there Senator.
One also needs it if you drive a fuel truck, or they will not allow you into the terminals, with this aswell as being finger printed a few years ago for another 90 bucks , you would think it would be your ticket anywhere right ,
There is not a shipping port within 50 miles of my dock and i never go near it. Yet I have to pay money for this stupid "I am not a terrorist" card. Retarded. Like it is really going to stop a single terrorist. Nothing more than a hinderance and a cash giveaway. If you are going to blow up a port I dont think you'll be stopping to let anyone check your ID.
Ill write.
TWIC is not mandatory, you only need it if you enter a secure post. I got that directly from the coasties at Tampa, FL. You will not lose your license if you don't have the card, nothing will happen, and the sky will not fall.
Only persons who are entering a secure port are required to have the card.
TWIC is not mandatory, you only need it if you enter a secure post. I got that directly from the coasties at Tampa, FL. You will not lose your license if you don't have the card, nothing will happen, and the sky will not fall.
Only persons who are entering a secure port are required to have the card.
That conflicts with other posts about TWIC's that I have read. Can you kinding post the name and contact information of the USCG offical that you spoke to about this matter?
I have my final appointment on Feb. 14 to pay my $ and get my TWIC card. If you don't lose your liscence for not getting your TWIC on time why is there a cut off date issued. Also does this card let you have access to restricted zones around ports to fish as well. I know that sounds stupid but not sure i understand what I read in previous posts about the card and access to secure zones.
After April 15, 2009 you can't renew your license without the TWIC card. There are also other cutoff dates that are in regards to actual port access. Different ports have different cutoff dates. After their cutoff date, you cannot access secure areas of a port without the TWIC card. But this has nothing to do with the April 15th cutoff date for renewals. And nothing to do with fishing the areas either, only going onto port property. If there are restricted areas around the port (because of Navy ships being docked there, for example) you still can't fish in those restricted areas.
That's my understanding after working on this for awhile. Sen Coleman from Minnesota had introduced a bill to repeal this requirement for normal 6 pack charter captains (only ships over a certain tonnage would have to get the TWIC card). But since he is still in the middle of a lawsuit to determine if he won or lost the November election!, I doubt the bill will get out of the Senate committee it's been sitting in for 6 months. So guess we better go ahead and get the darn thing.
All Ports in Florida require a separate port ID which at the port of Miami is $600. Does the TWIC card supercede that and do you still need a port ID?
Eventually they are trying to make it where the TWIC will do away with all the seperate port passes...but they say it will take a while for that to go into effect until then the card is pointless. My company paid for mine because Im a truck driver and we cant get into the container terminal without one
TWIC card 
