Always ask for a renewal as well when applying for a raise in grade

**Windjammer** · April 21st, 2011, 02:39 PM

When applying for a raise in grade, always check renewal as well on the form. If not, you will get a sticker to insert into your existing MMC, which will still expire 5 years from the ORIGINAL issue of the MMC. In the old days, when you received a raise in grade, you got a new license valid for 5 more years. Not so anymore. It does not cost anymore to get the renewal with a raise in grade, but you have to check the box on the form.

**Capt. Lee** · April 22nd, 2011, 03:07 AM

They automatically did that to my last upgrade. I am upgrading again now and they marked it a renewal as well, I like the fact that I am getting it all at once, but it really complicates the process. There is a checklist for each license I hold. 1600 Master, Checklist, Master of towing checklist, Barge Supervisor checklist, Large OSV checklist, then my regular upgrade checklist. It confuses me, much less some civil servant who doesn't know which end is the bow and which is the stern.

**jdcavo** · April 22nd, 2011, 03:49 AM

Thi is good advice. A relatively unnoticed consequence of the rulemaking that created the MMC is that since credentials can be renewed at any time, you must check the boxes for "renewal" in order to get a new MMC with a new, 5-year expiration date. If you don't, the MMC will have the same expiration date as before. As an example, a guy in our office upgraded from 3rd Mate to 2nd Mate and Master 1600. He didn't check the renewal box, so his MMC with the new endorsements (licenses) has the same expiration date as his old 3rd Mate license. As others have noted, it won't cost you anymore to "renew" at the time you are adding an endorsement or raising the grade or increasing the scope of an existing endorsement, but if you don't indicate you want reenewal, your MMC will keep the same expiration date.

**Windjammer** · April 26th, 2011, 05:28 PM

I learned the hard way when upgrading from Chief Mate to Master Unlimited. I did not check the renewal box in addition to the 'raise in grade' box, so I just received some stickers to insert into my existing MMC. The real problem was that the international sticker just said Master, and not Master Unlimited. Since the original MMC sail Master limited to 3000 tons, adding a sticker stating 'Master' and not 'Master any gross tons' made the whole thing very ambiguous. Imagine some port state control inspector overseas trying to interpret the thing. I had to pay for a complete renewal about two weeks after receiving the upgrade just to get a clean and unambiguous license. I tried explaining my problem to the folks at the NMC but they didn't really seem to understand the issue, so a renewal was my only option.

**jdcavo** · April 27th, 2011, 04:01 AM

Originally Posted by Windjammer

I learned the hard way when upgrading from Chief Mate to Master Unlimited. I did not check the renewal box in addition to the 'raise in grade' box, so I just received some stickers to insert into my existing MMC. The real problem was that the international sticker just said Master, and not Master Unlimited. Since the original MMC sail Master limited to 3000 tons, adding a sticker stating 'Master' and not 'Master any gross tons' made the whole thing very ambiguous. Imagine some port state control inspector overseas trying to interpret the thing. I had to pay for a complete renewal about two weeks after receiving the upgrade just to get a clean and unambiguous license. I tried explaining my problem to the folks at the NMC but they didn't really seem to understand the issue, so a renewal was my only option.

On the STCW endorsement, only the capacity and limitations are noted. For the capacity of Master, you have no limitations, so none are noted. The left column for limiattions would only have something enetered if there was a limiation on your Master endorsement such as rtoute or tonnage. In other words, the absence of a limitation means the endorsement is unlimited.

**Flyer69** · April 27th, 2011, 04:55 AM

My STCW codes page has the code for RFPNW on it. My capacities page does not have "RFPNW" on it. 2 separate employers have told me they want to see "RFPNW" on the capacities page. Will this be hard to get accomplished?

**Windjammer** · April 27th, 2011, 11:51 AM

Mr. Cavo, you and I may understand that, but imagine having a port state control officer aboard in, say, Turkey, on a weekend, reviewing your certificates. English is a second language and they are not familiar with the specific USCG practices. If you try to verify the credential on the web site, it is just as confusing. The Master <3000 tons qualification is still listed as valid, followed down the line with a Master qualification with no further description. When I ran it by my shipping agent and the company superintendent, they were both concerned that the ship could be detained while trying to sort out the confusion. I understand that the NMC evaluator followed the procedure correctly, but both the MMC and the online verification were very ambiguous to a USCG outsider. It would be much clearer if they removed the Master <3000 tons qualification completed from the online verification system.