Port Police offering onsite pre-enrollment

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Time is running out for truck drivers and others whose business brings them to North Carolina State Ports facilities in Morehead City and Wilmington. Beginning Nov. 1, anyone who needs unescorted access to secure areas of N.C. State Ports Authority facilities must present a Transportation Worker Identification Credential issued by the Transportation Security Administration. The secure areas are inside the gates at both Ports.

Anyone without a TWIC card needs to enroll right away. The TSA has established centers in Wilmington and Morehead City to process TWIC enrollments. Processing time is 60 to 90 days, and requires two visits to a TWIC center.

The Port Police Department is offering onsite pre-enrollment assistance at both Ports during August. Pre-enrolling eliminates waiting at enrollment centers and reduces the time it takes at the center. The hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 8 a.m – 4 p.m. in Morehead City and 7:30 a.m – 4:30 p.m. in Wilmington.

Pre-enrollments will be processed in the Morehead City, Police Department's regular badging area in the Maritime Building. In Wilmington, the Police Department's mobile center is at the South Gate through Friday, Aug. 15, and at the North Gate through the 29th. Users can also pre-enroll online at www.tsa.gov/twic.

All Ports employees, longshoremen, tenants and their employees, truck drivers, delivery drivers, shipping agents and other customer representatives - anyone who needs to drive through the gate at either Port - must have both a Ports Authority badge to swipe on the card readers and a TWIC card to show to the gate officers.

The U.S. Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration announced in July that as of Nov. 28, the TWIC card will be required for access to secure facilities in the Coast Guard's Sector North Carolina. The Ports Authority opted to begin enforcement Nov. 1 to minimize problems during the transition, according to Doug Campen, director of safety and security.

TWIC was established in the Maritime Transportation Security Act and the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act to serve as an identification program for all Coast Guard credentialed mariners and personnel requiring unescorted access to secure areas within a port. The program operates enrollment centers and mobile sites nationwide. More than 415,000 workers have enrolled as of Aug. 6.