Senate Homeland Security Ranking Member Susan Collins today announced that merchant mariners, longshoremen, and truckers in Maine who have not already obtained a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) needed to access secure areas of ports and vessels will now have additional opportunities to apply. Senator Collins worked with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to expand the office hours at the Bangor and Portland TWIC Enrollment Centers to meet the local demands.
“The thousands of merchant mariners, truck drivers, and port workers in Maine who are required to have TWIC cards should not have to take time out from their busy work schedules to wait in line to apply. The expanded hours should help increase local TWIC enrollment capacity to handle the recent high volume of TWIC applicants. I will continue to work with TSA officials to ensure that workers are able to get TWIC cards in a timely manner,” said Senator Collins.
Effective this week, the locations and times of TWIC Enrollment Centers in Bangor and Portland are:
Bangor TWIC Enrollment Center
163 Hildreth Street North
Bangor, ME 04401-5732
Tues – Thurs: 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM and 12:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Portland TWIC Enrollment Center
236 Oxford Street, Suite 12
Portland, ME 04101-3070
Thurs – Fri: 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM and 12:30 PM – 4:30 PM
The TWIC program was established by Congress through the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) and is administered by the TSA and U.S. Coast Guard. TWICs are tamper-resistant biometric credentials for 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 1 million workers including longshoremen, truckers, port employees and others are required to have a TWIC. To obtain a TWIC, an individual must provide biographic and biometric information such as fingerprints, sit for a digital photograph, and successfully pass a security threat assessment conducted by TSA.