US deadline on foreign crew ID

Vessel operators will have to ensure that their crew carry one of the USCG-approved identification documents, otherwise they run the risk of their ship not being allowed entry into a US port.
Vessel operators and individual seafarers would each face civil penalties of up to US$25,000 if they failed to comply.
For the operator, this sanction would add to the significantly higher cost of having the ship denied entry to a US port.
The identification requirement is simply to allow the ship entry into US navigable waters and not for mariners to be able to go ashore once the ship docks.
These latter rules are in place separately as issued by the US Department of Homeland Security and will not change with the new regime that takes effect on May 28.
The new rule is likely to affect only those seafarers who still do not carry passports and do not have the new Seafarer’s Identity Document (SID) issued by a nation that has ratified the relevant International Labour Organization convention.
An irony woven into the new rule is that the US itself has not ratified the ILO convention.
Nonetheless, the USCG has included the SID in its list of acceptable forms of identification, which also includes a passport, a US green card, a US merchant mariner document, a US merchant mariner credential or a US Transportation Worker Identification Card.
The draft of this rule was introduced a year ago and was put up for public comment. Now, the final implementation date and the details of the penalties involved have been announced.
Although the four other acceptable forms of identification are US-centric, it is believed that a majority of foreign seafarers would at least have a passport.
However, the tight deadline of May 28 is seen as a handicap for those who do not have one.
US maritime regulatory consultant Dennis Bryant said: “This rulemaking is not unexpected and not particularly onerous. The only compliance problem may be with regard to the effective date.
“Foreign seafarers who do not currently have one of the acceptable identification documents are unlikely to be able to obtain one within the next 30 days.”