Post: #1

For anybody interested in the Merchant Marines, or a career at sea.





Like any job, it comes with its highs and lows.

Highs:
-You save nearly your entire paycheck while you're onboard.
-Lots of travel.
-Not a desk job.
-Lots of potential overtime pay

Lows:
-Routine, monotonous
-Stuck on a boat for long stretches of time
-Few opportunities to game/bang women

If I were in the narrator's shoes, though, I would've pipelined women ahead of time of the places where my boat would be making port calls. Also, had a little chuckle when he mentioned how some of the guys on his boat managed to spend their entire paycheck on booze and women while they were on land lol. not so different from the military guys we have running around here in korea.

My uncle recently retired as a pilot (they help steer the boats into port or through canals), making over 400K/year in his final year.

Not a terrible gig, especially if you love the open sea. Any Rooshers currently in this profession who can chime in with more details?

Post: #2

Can you explain the job a little more? Starting wage, hours, how long on the boat, how you get the job, etc?

Post: #3

I had gotten my TWIC card just for something like this. I haven't been pursuing this, however. Please provide info as I am interested in taking the plunge.

Post: #4

I would recommend trying to do it within a Norwegian company.
You will never get fucked over with penalty rates.
You will get free health insurance and travel insurance.
Probably one of the highest salaries.
Poor work ethic.
Engineers will constantly fuck everything up which will give you time to sit on your ass and do nothing.

I have done a couple of 28-28 rotations. If you can handle the time away from home, its awesome!

Post: #5

Here's some information on being a Harbor or Port Pilot, the guy responsible for bringing huge ships into the port safely.

My uncle did this job, making over $400K USD by the time he retired. Judging by just a cursory Google search, this seems right around the average salary in the US (Link: http://work.chron.com/salaries-harbor-pilots-5915.html)





Pros:
-$$$$$$$$
-you can stay in one location
-once you fully know your harbor/port, the work becomes easy.

Cons:
-It can be very competitive to get into
-your hours are not your own

my uncle loved his job, he knew every square inch of his port. he was making 6 digits from when he turned 25, now he's 65.

i'm thinking about changing this thread to showcase maritime jobs for those interested. there are so many interesting jobs out there that are worth discussing, and we could have this thread focus on maritime-related careers. thoughts?

edit: it's also apparently a potentially dangerous profession (Link: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/21/149091141/...gerous-job)

Post: #6

(04-23-2014 01:21 PM)GyopoPlayboy Wrote:  Here's some information on being a Harbor or Port Pilot, the guy responsible for bringing huge ships into the port safely.

My uncle did this job, making over $400K USD by the time he retired. Judging by just a cursory Google search, this seems right around the average salary in the US (Link: http://work.chron.com/salaries-harbor-pilots-5915.html)





Pros:
-$$$$$$$$
-you can stay in one location
-once you fully know your harbor/port, the work becomes easy.

Cons:
-It can be very competitive to get into
-your hours are not your own

my uncle loved his job, he knew every square inch of his port. he was making 6 digits from when he turned 25, now he's 65.

i'm thinking about changing this thread to showcase maritime jobs for those interested. there are so many interesting jobs out there that are worth discussing, and we could have this thread focus on maritime-related careers. thoughts?

edit: it's also apparently a potentially dangerous profession (Link: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/21/149091141/...gerous-job)

Can you work your way up into this position from the bottom or is this a job you would have to go to the officer school or some type of schooling to get?

Post: #7

I have a TWIC and merchant mariner's document (MMD) from when I was an oceanographer.

The requirements for entry level are a high school diploma, TWIC, MMD, and passport.

The starting pay for an entry level MMD/TWIC holder (ordinary sea-man rating) comes out to ~225 a day, pre-tax when you start out. Anywhere from 3-5 week shifts at sea.

You start out as an Ordinary Seaman, and after about a year of work you can choose to continue on the deck of the ship as an Able-Bodied Seaman, or become get your QMED rating and work in the engine rooms with the engineers. Both paths can end up paying about 300/day, with pay increase as you spend more time at sea.

The HARDEST part of this kind of career is getting your first gig. NO ONE will want to hire you, and your best bet to break into the scene is to do some Gulf-of-Mexico work out of Louisiana or Texas, although those jobs are pretty dangerous...one moment of daydreaming is long enough for a crane operator to crush your ass with a container.

Compared to what people say about the oil sands, the people working these jobs are not nearly as rough, because the TWIC and MMD require pretty intense background/drug tests. Any sort of felony will disqualify an applicant.

You can get FREE training for this career. The training is 6 months, with housing and food provided (no pay though). You are also given your first placement at sea. See below. Highly recommended IF you are serious about it. Any more questions I'm glad to help y'all out

http://www.seafarers.org/jobs/entry.asp

Post: #8

(04-23-2014 08:33 PM)chambs88 Wrote:  I have a TWIC and merchant mariner's document (MMD) from when I was an oceanographer.

The requirements for entry level are a high school diploma, TWIC, MMD, and passport.

The starting pay for an entry level MMD/TWIC holder (ordinary sea-man rating) comes out to ~225 a day, pre-tax when you start out. Anywhere from 3-5 week shifts at sea.

You start out as an Ordinary Seaman, and after about a year of work you can choose to continue on the deck of the ship as an Able-Bodied Seaman, or become get your QMED rating and work in the engine rooms with the engineers. Both paths can end up paying about 300/day, with pay increase as you spend more time at sea.

The HARDEST part of this kind of career is getting your first gig. NO ONE will want to hire you, and your best bet to break into the scene is to do some Gulf-of-Mexico work out of Louisiana or Texas, although those jobs are pretty dangerous...one moment of daydreaming is long enough for a crane operator to crush your ass with a container.

Compared to what people say about the oil sands, the people working these jobs are not nearly as rough, because the TWIC and MMD require pretty intense background/drug tests. Any sort of felony will disqualify an applicant.

You can get FREE training for this career. The training is 6 months, with housing and food provided (no pay though). You are also given your first placement at sea. See below. Highly recommended IF you are serious about it. Any more questions I'm glad to help y'all out

http://www.seafarers.org/jobs/entry.asp

The Seafarers school is like the military. Room inspections, muster for morning colors, march to class. This job interests me but I'm just about to get out of the Army. Still looks interesting...

Post: #9

Fuck!

Another thing I forgot to mention is the safety course you have to do to work offshore.
I'm pretty sure you have to do this no matter what country you work in.

Here in Norway it costs more that $5,000 to do it.
Good companies will pay for you to do it... But not many people are going to hire you if you don't have it (depending on the job of course).
So its a bit of a gamble. Do i pay for it and take the time off work to do it on my own time and hope that its an investment..... Or do I try to get a job without it and hope that Maersk will pay me to do the course.

This could be one of the reasons why I never got offered a full time job offshore. But I'll never know.

Post: #10

What are the legal aspects of citizenship as far as which ships you can work on?

Post: #11

(04-24-2014 11:56 PM)Suits Wrote:  What are the legal aspects of citizenship as far as which ships you can work on?

Not sure about the rest of the world, but for north/south america, the only ships worth working on are those flying an American or Canadian flag. If you can't qualify for the TWIC/MMD or the Canadian equivalent, you're SOL.

The cruise lines all register their ships to be based out of foreign countries so they can bring on SE Asia/ S. American folks who will work for $500/month.

The exception is ONE single cruise ship based out of Hawaii that has an American flag. That's the gig, but you need experience + know someone to even have a shot at landing that.

Post: #12

Looks adventurous in a Jack London sort of way, but what do you think of this?

http://www.maritime-executive.com/articl...013-03-12/

Quote:The U.S. Merchant Marine fleet will be dead in ten years. Food aid lobbyists will convince Congress to eliminate the cargo preference requirements which mandate that government impelled cargo be shipped on U.S. flagged and U.S. crewed vessels. The current Administration will support these cuts to better promote its wind, solar, and nuclear energy programs. The U.S. maritime community must convince Congress and the Administration that cargo preference and the U.S. mariners who transport this cargo are vital to our national security if it is to avoid this grim prognosis.

Post: #13

One of the coolest teachers I ever had as a kid was in the merchant marines before becoming a teacher. Before that he'd hitchhiked around the south in the 70s. Like someone else mentioned, always seemed like an adventurous way to see the world. I would be interested in knowing how much the reality of the job these days matches that perception though...

Post: #14

Sounds kind of fun from the boring 9-5 life of a office worker. And a free entry program ? I might be serious about this !

Post: #15

For information on working on a yacht, Julie Perry is frequently recommended as the best source.

Here's a 3-part youtube series where she explains the industry and how she got into it.





Now, yacht work is different from cruise ship work, which is generally the lowest-paying work you'll find on a boat. You're serving a handful of guests, instead of the 200-500 people you would on a cruise. You're expected to perform at your best at all times since guests are paying like $5000/day of something like that.

PROS:
-Lots of $$$ from tips
-Salary goes straight to your bank ie. low/no expenditures
-Explore places you may never go to in your life
-Rub elbows with the rich&famous (billionaires)

CONS:
-At the whim of potentially shitty guests
-Hours are not your own
-Tiny living quarters

The biggest plus to me (and she mentions this in her video) is the potential to meet with the billionaires who own the yachts or who charter them.

She mentions a colleague of hers who would ask them for life/career advice. How amazing it'd be to get a few moments of Richard Branson's time to talk about life. (funny enough, a lot of the rich & famous encourage people to go travel...)

or, as she also mentions stewardesses who now work for the yacht owner in a wholly unrelated capacity.

it's a great opportunity to put yourself in front of the people who run the world that you otherwise may never be able to get on your own.

make sure to check out Parts 2&3 on Youtube.

Post: #16

Yeah I have done some training course with guys that work on Super Yachts.

They were telling me that these yachts get hired out by these Russian billionaires. they sail around the world, docking at all sorts of cool places.
You get paid around €5000 a month and its tax free.
But you are never home and you live on a boat.