Port of Victoria Workers Begin Enrollment for Federal Security Credential
January 15, 2008
Contact: Andrea M. McCauley
(817) 528-0470
VICTORIA, Texas – Port workers, longshore workers, truckers and others at the Port of Victoria will begin enrolling tomorrow in the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program. The program's goal is to ensure that any individual who has unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities and vessels has received a thorough background check and is not a security threat.
Approximately 1,800 workers are expected to enroll for TWIC in Victoria. Nationwide, more than 1 million workers with unescorted access to secure areas will apply during 2008.
"The start of enrollment is one more step in our effort to prevent persons who are a threat from gaining access to secure areas of port facilities," said Maurine Fanguy, TWIC program director for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). "We appreciate the support of our partners at the Port of Victoria for helping to make one of the world's most advanced interoperable biometric systems a reality."
Victoria is one of 49 ports to begin enrollment in the nationwide program. Ultimately, TSA will establish fixed enrollment centers at 147 ports and will deploy mobile enrollment centers to dozens of other locations.
Workers at the Port of Victoria are able to pre-enroll for TWIC online at www.tsa.gov/twic or the Coast Guard's Homeport site, http://homeport.uscg.mil. Pre-enrolling speeds up the process by allowing workers to provide biographic information and schedule a time to complete the application process in person. This eliminates waiting at enrollment centers and reduces the time it takes to enroll each individual.
The TWIC Enrollment Center is located at 1750 FM 1432, Victoria, Texas 77905-0000. The hours of operation are Monday - Friday, from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.The Port of Victoria, its industrial park and facilities along its 35-mile industrial canal, generate $1.2 billion in business revenue and create over 9,000 jobs. This regional economic engine is the South Texas multimodal connection which brings all modes of transportation together at a single location. The Port of Victoria is a center for the chemical, construction and steel fabrication and agribusiness industries offering access to all transportation modes.
