National Vessel Documentation Center Overview
What you should know about the National Vessel Documentation Center.
The National Vessel Documentation Center is a centralized government facility which is responsible for administering all aspects of vessel documentation. This encompasses both recreational and commercial vessels. The entire operation is managed by United States Coast Guard, which is a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Mission and Purposes
The National Vessel Documentation Center (NVDC) is charged with the enhancement and protection of maritime commerce. Its mission is implemented through the enforcement of vessel documentation regulations and by maintaining a register of documented vessels. In addition to the handling of applications, the NVDC processes transactional recordings related to ownership and encumbrances. These encompass transfers of ownership, preferred mortgages, lien claims and various supporting instruments. It also provides support for the general public with respect to records access and informational resources. The documentation center processes applications and issues certificates for both recreational and commercial vessels on a nationwide basis and is responsible for the maintenance of such records.
Regulatory Enforcement
Vessel documentation regulations are initiated by congress as promulgated through the United States Code (USC). These are further interpreted and codified through the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). As a matter of enforcement, the NVDC has further developed their own set of operational rules based on the meaning of these statutes. A layman's understanding of these underlying codes is accordingly helpful when it comes to the rationality behind NVDC requirements.
Public Access
The NVDC facility is located in a rural area near Martinsburg, West Virginia. Although open for public visitation, most transactions are conducted online, by telephone, email or regular mail. Facsimile accommodations are no longer available. Information on how to contact the NVDC and instructions for submitting forms and documents can be found in the Referrals for this page.
Online Resources
The National Vessel Documentation Center offers a number of online information and services for those interested in documenting a recreational or commercial vessel. This include the necessary forms, applications and instructions for obtaining a certificate of documentation along with various ownership, mortgage, an lien recordings. A link to the website can be found in the Referrals for this page.
Records Access
There is no online portal on the NVDC website for record search lookups. However, a link to our free documentation search can be found in the References for this page. There are also some other government sites that do offer such resources along with several industry portals which are available to the public. Vessel abstracts of title and copies of recorded instruments must be ordered directly from the documentation center.
Customer Support
The documentation center employs a staff of well trained documentation officers that are available for customer support. Although sometimes difficult to reach by telephone, they are usually quite responsive to email correspondence. General inquiries are fielded, but the scope of their assistance is more typically limited to applicants and those cases which are currently in progress. In any event, the documentation center will not offer guidance on the legal or technical ramifications of vessel ownership methods and operational requirements.
Conclusion
Self-help vessel documentation is not all that difficult given the available NVDC resources and a wealth of related information to be found here on our website. However, some transactions can become complicated and professional assistance may be worth looking into. Just keep in mind that it can get expensive and you will need to be very careful in choosing the right company. This is especially true when it comes to a number of questionable online services that have proliferated the marine industry.
References and Referrals
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