Getting your vessel documentation is important. Renewing it is important, too. That way, you’re never without the documentation. You don’t want to get boarded or otherwise caught without it. That’s why we make it easy to not just get your documentation the first time, but to maintain it, too. In this blog, we’ll go over how to get your documentation as well as how to use our national vessel documentation center renewal online process. Along the way, we’ll cover some ways that we can help you with all of your documentation needs.
Our National Vessel Documentation Center Renewal Online
If you ever tried renewing your documentation before the internet, then you may remember just how difficult and time consuming that could be. Of course, we didn’t really know better at the time – we just remember the process being labor. You had to figure out which form you needed for your documentation. Then, you had to go somewhere to pick one up, or possibly print it up yourself. After that, you had to sit down and write the entire thing out by hand. Once this was all done, then you had to drive it to the appropriate location (if that was an option) or mail it in.
Handwriting, Mistakes and More
Hopefully, after all of that, your documentation went through fine, and you received the documentation that you required. Of course, if you were like many people, that didn’t happen. Instead, you had your documentation sent back to you unaccepted because you made errors. When we say “errors,” we don’t mean that you were dishonest or anything remotely like that. By “errors” we mean that you did tiny things, maybe writing the wrong number in the wrong place, that kind of thing. Many of us who love boating perhaps don’t have the best handwriting. So, even when we’re being careful, we’re unable to write out everything correctly in the documentation. You could have your documentation sent back just for something that minor.
A Better Process
What made this all the more infuriating was that you had to start the entire process all over again. It’s not like you could simply get out some white out and then send it back in. No, you had to start all over again, this time with the hope that your hand doesn’t slip, or you don’t make the tiniest thing that could make you have to do this yet again. When we were putting together our site, we realized there had to be a better way. That’s part of what lead us to start the Maritime Documentation Center.
The Maritime Documentation Center Advantage
Here, you can fill out all of the forms online. You just have to type them in. No more little typos, no more handwriting issues, all of that has been eliminated. The other part we managed to eliminate was having to drive somewhere to mail it, or really even to use the mail in general. Just submit it to us, and we’ll make sure that it goes to the right place. That’s it, that’s all you have to do. As our site is mobile optimized, you can look at it on your phone, too. You can even be on the boat, or sitting in the passenger seat, and filling out your documentation. What was impossible just a few years ago is now simple convenience.
You also don’t have to worry about the “little typos” issue anymore. The days of worrying if someone was going to see a tiny error that you made and then send your documentation back to you are long gone. When you send your forms to us, we give them to our document processors. These are trained professionals who know exactly what to look for. They’ll find any potential errors before we send them off to the relevant authorities. That way, your forms always going to the authorities in the best form possible, without any of those little mistakes that may have held you back in the past. It’s one more way that we can make the process easier on our customers.
We also know how renewal of documentation could sneak up on vessel owners. With everything you have going on in your life, it can be easy to lose track of something like vessel documentation, which for many is something that you think of once a year if that. So, we made it easy to renew your documentation for multiple years. Just press a few buttons on our site and, for an added fee, you can renew your documentation for up to five years in the future. To see all of our services and the kinds of documentation that we provide, just head to our site or give our pros a call at (800) 535-8570.