This notice serves to notify the maritime industry that Government has officially shutdown. The National Maritime Center (NMC) is authorized to maintain a very small cadre of personnel to support National Security emergent issues. The NMC will: • Maintain the Customer Service Call Center. 888-IASKNMC will be open and monitored from 0800 until 2000 Eastern Time Monday through Friday. REC and NMC phones will not be monitored. • Maintain the website. We will attempt to keep the industry up to date on our status via the website. • Regional Exam Centers will be closed. •Exam Appointments will be cancelled and must be rescheduled after the shutdown is lifted. On line scheduling will be disabled. • Appointments to drop off applications will be cancelled and must be rescheduled after the shutdown is lifted. On line scheduling will be disabled. • There will be no walk ins. • Applications may continue to be mailed or emailed and will be processed when the shutdown is lifted. The NMC recognizes that this shutdown will impact the maritime industry. We will do whatever we can to minimize the impact and to recover as quickly as possible once the shutdown is lifted.