Hogsnort: What is usual manning of towing vessels down under?
We were lucky on the ATB. Even back in the 80s, we were 4 and 8 in the wheelhouse from the get go. After about a year and a half, in the engine room, too. I do know that subsequent owners did NOT keep that up. And yeah, we all bucked groceries. Just the way it goes. . .
The company running tugs here shifted to Western Australia some years ago but I think they ran them with a master, mate and engineer, 3 AB’s . The coal barge was self discharging on the trans Tasman run and had a master, 2 mates and two engineers. I don’t remember how many ABs but the crew did all the loading and discharge of the barge.
It’s all gone now and I am aware of one small cement barge that runs from Whangarei to Auckland with minimum manning as it’s about 60 miles. Our “green” government would like to kill off the last of our cement manufacturers over carbon emissions and transfer the problem to Indonesia.
Lovely. When I worked on string boats, we had a master, two mates, three deck hands (two ABs and an OS), one engineer and one cook. A engineer, I would stand the 8-12, and then respond to any alarms off watch and work as needed off watch (for OT, of course).