FILE PHOTO: A Port State Control inspection in Nine Mile Anchorage on the lower Mississippi River. U.S. Coast Guard Photo
The U.S. Coast Guard is preparing to launch a new digital credentialing platform aimed at overhauling how mariners apply for and receive Merchant Mariner Credentials (MMCs), marking the agency’s latest effort to address long-standing frustrations with the credentialing process.
The new system, known as NAVITA—Latin for “sailor”—is scheduled for an initial rollout in September 2026 and is being developed as part of the Coast Guard’s broader digital transformation initiative.
According to Coast Guard officials, NAVITA will provide mariners with a modernized online experience that simplifies credential and medical certificate applications, reduces paperwork, minimizes common errors, and offers greater transparency into application status.
“For many mariners, today’s credentialing process can involve extensive paperwork, multiple submissions, and lengthy back-and-forth communication,” said CAPT Pat Drayer, commanding officer of the National Maritime Center, and Captain Cathleen Mauro, acting chief of the Office of Merchant Mariner Credentialing.
The announcement comes as the Coast Guard continues to grapple with significant credentialing challenges following this year’s federal funding lapse, which forced the National Maritime Center (NMC) to suspend many operations and contributed to a backlog of more than 19,000 credential applications.
When the NMC resumed operations in May, the agency warned that processing times could stretch eight to twelve months for completed applications as staff worked through the accumulated backlog on a first-in, first-out basis.
Coast Guard officials say NAVITA is intended to address many of the inefficiencies that have historically slowed credential processing.
“This is about more than replacing a system,” said Rear Adm. Wayne Arguin, Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy. “It’s about designing services around the mariner experience and improving the public’s interactions with—and trust in—the Coast Guard.”
The first release of NAVITA will allow mariners to create profiles and submit credential and medical applications electronically. Additional capabilities will be added through future updates.
The platform follows a series of recent changes to the Coast Guard’s credentialing infrastructure. Earlier this year, the service launched the Application Submission and Additional Information Portal (ASAP) after the permanent shutdown of the long-running HOMEPORT system, which had served mariners since 2005 before being taken offline in April 2025.
The ASAP portal became the primary method for submitting credential applications while the Coast Guard worked on broader modernization efforts.
The Coast Guard says NAVITA will eventually serve as the cornerstone of a more comprehensive modernization effort spanning prevention-related services and maritime industry interactions.
The project also aligns with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order on “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance,” which identifies workforce development and reducing barriers to maritime employment as key priorities. Coast Guard officials said reducing credentialing delays will help strengthen the U.S. maritime workforce, support supply chains, and improve national defense readiness.
A strong and readily available mariner workforce has become an increasingly important issue as policymakers seek to expand the U.S.-flag fleet and address persistent labor shortages across parts of the maritime industry.
The Coast Guard said it is continuing stakeholder testing and user feedback sessions ahead of NAVITA’s September launch and plans to provide additional updates as development progresses.
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