Joanne Ferreira, a spokesman at the agency’s Customers and Border Protection unit, said four other waivers still are being reviewed.

On Monday, the government awarded contracts for 15 companies–including major refiners, trading houses and banks–to buy 30.64 million barrels of crude under an emergency sale from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The sale was part of a coordinated move among consumer nations in the International Energy Agency to place about 60 million barrels in the market by the end of August to help cover a short-fall in supply caused by the civil war in Libya.

In two previous sales, the government issued a blanket waiver from the Jones Act, the requirement that any ship carrying goods from port to port along the U.S. coast must be U.S.-made, and have a crew comprised predominately of U.S. citizens. Saying there were sufficient U.S. ships available, the government reversed a decision to again give a blanket waiver, and said it would consider waivers on a case-by-case basis within 48 hours of submission. Government officials wouldn’t release the names of companies which had requested or received waivers.

More than 25 million barrels of the oil sold, or 82%, will move by ship, while 18% will be delivered by pipeline, with just a single 150,000 parcel being delivered by barge, Energy Department data show. Schedules are still being arranged, but about 7 million barres of the crude could be shipped in July to buyers who requested early delivery, while the remainder would be delivered in August, a government source said.

-By David Bird, Dow Jones Newswires

“Strengthening the security of our maritime global supply chain is critical to protecting our nation from evolving threats,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. “This new TWIC process is a critical step toward ensuring that foreign maritime workers can quickly and efficiently obtain the necessary credentials to do their jobs and help grow the American economy.”

Under this process, foreign maritime workers who need to acquire a TWIC for the performance of their official duties must provide notice of their need for a TWIC to DOS upon application for a B-1 visa, as well as a letter from their employer indicating that the individual will be required to perform service in secure port areas. Upon receipt of the new TWIC-annotated B-1 visa, each individual will apply separately for a TWIC. As is the case for all visa and TWIC applicants, these foreign maritime workers will undergo rigorous background checks, including checks against the terrorist watchlist, criminal history, and immigrations records.

This new process will apply to the approximately 4,000 to 6,000 foreign workers in U.S. ports who are required to have a TWIC for the performance of their official duties.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) published a TWIC final rule on Jan. 25, 2007, allowing non-citizens to apply for a TWIC provided that they meet one of TSA’s eligible immigration categories. Following input from maritime industry stakeholders, DHS and DOS collaborated to create a process allowing essential maritime personnel who fall within the B-1 visa category and require a TWIC to acquire one—designing an annotated B-1 visa to meet the needs of the TWIC Program as well as the maritime community.

Join the discussion on this article in the gCaptain forum HERE.

With the help of our friends at Vessel Trax and many hours at the computer we have taken the list of Transportation Worker’s Identification Card ( TWIC ) Enrollment Locations from the TSA’s TWIC Info page and embedded them on the google map. Why the TSA has not done this already and is not blogging about TWIC is a question we can not answer but we are happy to take up their slack.

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TWIC Locations Mapped:

View Larger Map
To view the map in Google Earth CLICK HERE | View Larger Map

To view this map in full size CLICK HERE.

For all our TWICLocation related posts and podcast please CLICK HERE.
To join the TWIC discussion on our forum CLICK HERE.

It comes as no surprise that we in the United States are security aware. Possible threats create new legislation on a regular basis. Today, I enrolled for my Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC.) The office was due to be opened at 08:00. Here’s what happened.

07:57 I arrive at the Anacortes Wa. enrollment location, 5 miles from my home.

08:07 Worker #1 arrives and apologizes for being late.

08:11 Worker #2 arrives

08:12 Workers #1 and #2 discuss if the computer is up an running

(they are subcontractors to Lockheed Martin who is a subcontractor to TSA)

08:12 Second enrollee arrives for a 08:15 appointment

Workers indicate enrollee #2 will be served first (I preenrolled before appointments were offered)

08:13 Phone call is placed stating, “There are workers here to be enrolled.”

08:19 Lockheed Martin supervisor of the enrollment site arrives and unlocks the computer

08:28 Second enrollee is seated for an interview

08:45 Second enrollee’s interview is completed

08:48 I am seated for the interview

My credit card is charged the $132.50 fee

Information on my pre-enrollment form is confirmed

Finger prints are taken (electronically)

Passport is scanned

My picture is taken

09:02 Process is completed

This was day two of the Anacortes, Wa enrollment operation. The signage for the location only exists at the door and is remote. The workers expect the office to be opened through November 2008.

Folks related to the Coast Guard have told me that TWIC came about because the Department of Homeland Security could not get Coast Guard computers and TSA computers to share information. As licensed mariners in the US are aware, we already have gone through a rigorous FBI background check and have been finger printed. The cost for this privilege of this new card is $132.50

I already carry my Master’s License, Passport, and Maritime Consortium (drug testing) Card aboard the vessels I work on.. I wonder how one more piece of ID is going to keep us safer.

Information from the TWIC website reads:

The Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) is a vital security measure that will ensure individuals who pose a threat do not gain unescorted access to secure areas of the nation’s maritime transportation system.

TWIC was established by Congress through the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) and is administered by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Coast Guard. TWICs are tamper-resistant biometric credentials that will be issued to workers who require unescorted access to secure areas of ports, vessels, outer continental shelf facilities and all credentialed merchant mariners. It is anticipated that more than 750,000 workers including longshoremen, truckers, port employees and others will be required to obtain a TWIC.

The official TSA TWIC site is here.

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This post was written by Richard Rodriguez, Rescue Tug Captain, and US Coast Guard approved instructor for License Training. You can read more of his articles at the BitterEnd