Who can sign my sea service letter on company letterhead?

There are four main positions at your organization who can sign your sea service letter on company letterhead. It can be the ship’s master, owner, vessel manager or office staff.

You cannot sign for yourself on a sea service letter on company letterhead like you would on a CG-719S small vessel sea service form.

What needs to be on the sea service letter?

You need to make sure it includes all of the information required by 46 CFR 10.232 for sea service letter on company letterhead including all of the the following information:  

• Your Name
• Your Last Four of your Social or full MMC Reference Number
• Vessel Name
• Official Number
• Vessel Type
• Motor
• Sail
• Tank Ship or Barge - There are four main types of Tankers
• Tank Ship (liquified gasses)
• Tank Ship (dangerous liquids)
• Tank Barge (liquified gasses)
• Tank Barge (dangerous liquids)
• Towing
• High Speed Craft
• Offshore Installation - There are three types of Offshore Installations
• Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit -There are two types of MODUs
• Bottom Bearing Unit
• Surface Unit - There are three types of MODU Surface Units
• Self Propelled
• Propulsion Assisted
• Non-Self-Propelled
• Floating Offshore Installation - There are two types of Floating Offshore Installations
• Active Ballast
• Passive Ballast
• Fixed Platform
• Freight
• Liftboat
• Propulsion Type - There are three types of of Propulsion the USCG recognizes
• Motor
• Steam
• Gas Turbine
• Tonnage -
• GRT (Always ask for GRT. It makes your life the easiest with the USCG)
• GT
• NRT
• Engine Horsepower
• The Beginning Date of Service
• The End Date of Service
• Number of Underway Days
• Number of Days
• 8hr or 12 hr days
• There are a few very special vessels which are listed in listed in 46 U.S.C. 8104 and 46 CFR 15.705, or authorized by their COI, who are authorized to operate a two-watch system, a 12-hour working day may be creditable as 1.5 “days” of service only on those vessels. If the vessel is only authorized by their COI we strongly recommend you provide the COI for that vessel every time you interact with the USCG for licensing.
  

We hope this made your life a little easier and if you have other questions the MM-SEAS team is always here to help!

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Pro MM-SEAS members get access to unlimited live 1 on 1 calls with one of our USCG Licensing Specialists. We've found that answering questions live with screen sharing in a video call makes both of our lives easier. Pro MM-SEAS members can access these features inside of MM-SEAS under License Guidance.