WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Coast Guard will unveil its National Maritime Center during a ribbon cutting ceremony and dedication scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at 100 Forbes Dr., Martinsburg, W.Va.
Although not yet fully staffed, the NMC is fully operational and houses U.S. Merchant Mariner Licensing and Documentation production as well as the Merchant Mariner Training Course Approval and Oversight Program. The center is expected to employ approximately 200 military, federal civilian and contract employees once fully staffed. Construction of the 60,000 square-foot NMC began in late 2006 and was completed in December 2007. The NMC moved from its temporary facility in Kearneysville to the new facility in Martinsburg once construction was completed.
The mission of the NMC is to issue credentials to qualified mariners and approve maritime training courses in the most efficient and effective way possible. While the Coast Guard's Mariner Licensing and Documentation program is centralized at the center, 17 Regional Examination Centers operate as "storefronts and advocates" for the approximately 212,000 actively employed merchant mariners who require the services of the NMC.
The General Services Administration and the Coast Guard worked in partnership to construct the NMC with developer JDL Castle Corp. and Mackie Johnson Architects, both of North Carolina, Bristol Group Construction of Kentucky and MBP Construction Engineering Inc. of Virginia. The building is owned by JDL Martinsburg LLC, an affiliate of JDL Castle Corp., and is leased by the Coast Guard at a cost of $30 million over the next 20 years.
The NMC building is expected to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified through the U.S. Green Building Council, and recognized for conserving energy and being a high-performance sustainable building. Additionally, low water usage plants were used for "green" landscaping and strategically placed large rocks from the building site's natural landscape form a physical security barrier for the building.
The National Maritime Center is commanded by Coast Guard Capt. David Stalfort. For more information about the Coast Guard NMC visit their website at http://www.uscg.mil/stcw/ .
