Port Truckers Exempted from TWIC?

Lots of people are taking notice of the recent Coast Guard advanced notice of proposed rule making (ANPRM) on potential requirements for electronic readers to verify the authenticity of Transportation Workers Identification Credentials (TWIC). I ran across an interesting article on the issue over on TTNews.com, a trucker related site. The thing that makes this article interesting is the comment that: “In the March 27 proposal, truckers who carry shipments to or from container ships that carry consumer goods and manufactured products would not have to obtain the biometric card.” Now I certainly did not read that in the ANPRM, so I read the article a little more closely to see if I could determine how they came to this conclusion. It quickly became evident that Mr. Rip Watson, the article author, misread section IV E (Facility and Vessel Risk Groups) of the ANPRM. In the article he describes the vessel conditions for being placed into categories, but fails to address the similar conditions for facilities covered by the MTSA. Apparently missing the facility descriptions, he assumed that TWIC would not be required for personnel servicing facilities. The Coast Guard ANPRM does nothing to change the requirements for workers in MTSA covered facilities or vessels to have a TWIC to be able to have unescorted access to security areas. All it does is address how those facilities and vessels will have to incorporate the use of TWIC Readers to verify worker identities.