In a move celebrated by the domestic maritime industry, the U.S. Coast Guard has announced it will extend the validity of credentials for mariners in the passenger vessel, Great Lakes, and inland towboat industry.
The new guidance applies to Merchant Mariner Credentials with National endorsements and Medical Certificates that expire between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31, 2025. These credentials will now remain valid until Dec. 31, 2025. To sail under this extension, a mariner must carry a printed copy of the official Coast Guard letter with their expired credential at all times.
However, the relief is strictly limited. The Coast Guard's notice explicitly excludes Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping endorsements. This means a large portion of the maritime community—including mariners in the deep-sea, offshore, and near-coastal sectors—are not covered and cannot work on an expired credential.
The Coast Guard's relief also provides a valuable safety net for application paperwork. Any course completion certificates, approval-to-test letters, and additional information letters that expire between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31, 2025, are also extended until December 31, 2025.
While the extension is a welcome and necessary step for the domestic fleet, the advice for all mariners has not changed: submit your complete application as soon as you can.
To understand the urgency, one only needs to look at the numbers. Based on a five-year average, the National Maritime Center typically receives over 6,600 applications in October alone. With the shutdown continuing, a similar number of applications are likely arriving this month, meaning the NMC could face an immediate backlog of over 13,000 applications the moment it reopens.
Historical data from previous government shutdowns shows that such backlogs have typically taken the NMC between six and nine months to clear. This precedent highlights the need for the Coast Guard to consider innovative, "outside-the-box" solutions and potential partnerships with industry to manage the impending workload as soon as possible. In the meantime, submitting an application now is the only way for a mariner to secure their place in that queue.
