WSJ article about the manpower shortage.
Big Paychecks Can’t Woo Enough Sailors for America’s Commercial Fleet
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Why is it when corporations are screwing over people, “that is how free markets work”, but when corporations need to pay more than they want to for workers then THAT is a big problem to fixed.
I bet for $15 a day no one will coil lines on your tug and at $2,000 a day everyone will. The rest is just haggling over price as the old joke goes.
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I can tell just from the way he writes, the author has never stepped foot on a ship. H’s out of touch with the realities of industry and only sees “BIG SALARY, why no one want to work?”
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That and I’d like to know where a third (mate/engineer) can make over $200k a year straight out of the academies (at least without working 365 days) so I can submit my resume.
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Yeah, there is sort of a rude awakening for those brand new to the industry. A sort of culture shock, so to speak, about what’s expected. And I feel like whatever sources the author is drawing from are pretty biased or manipulated numbers regarding pay. Outside of an exceptional few who are either rapidly growing or trying to stay on the edge of the market, the majority of companies are still paying dog ass comparative to the pace of inflation. The only saving grace is that this money can be stacked relatively easy due to living and food expenses all being on the boat, but even so. Companies are still playing their cat and mouse game of low-balling mariners because they are still stuck in an age where they had the leverage. Now they struggle and complain about finding workers, but refuse to adjust their pay.
I will say that i think they’re trying to prolong the game as long as possible where, to a brand new green hand, the money seems impressive at first due to lack of perspective, but mariners who are experienced and actually know their shit say nah, it ain’t enough. Cause they know. This shit is stressful. You get better at it, become more efficient, find optimal ways to do your tasks, but it’s still stressful. Especially if you’re stuck in a position where you’re taking on more load unfairly cause your other hands aren’t worth shit, and captain doesn’t care, and you all get paid the same anyways.
There’s a lot of unspoken and unrealized truths about this industry this author doesn’t understand. I’ve always held the opinion that you necessarily must hold a certain level of crazy in you to actually work this kind of job, much less actually like working it. It’s not something everybody picks up naturally. It really is a lifestyle tradeoff. Most people are simply incompatible with it imo.
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Has anyone read this article? https://www.wsj.com/business/logistics/big-paychecks-cant-woo-enough-sailors-for-americas-commercial-fleet-e40c422e?st=z9GgyT&reflink=article_copyURL_share
It’s interesting that the article interviewed KP cadets. No disrespect to them, but most haven’t actually sailed in real commercial operations, haven’t held the con on a working ship, and haven’t lived the lifestyle long enough to understand what the workforce shortage is truly about.
The bigger problem is that even within the government agencies that rely on mariners, there’s a huge lack of awareness about what the job actually demands. People who never lived the lifestyle often reduce it to “good pay, free food, travel,” without understanding the real cost.
Sailing isn’t just a job — it’s a lifestyle change. A massive one.
Long months away from home, relationships under strain, missing everything on shore, irregular schedules, and the stress that comes with being responsible for a ship, crew, cargo, and compliance.
What’s wild is that coming off active duty orders, you can realistically make more money in military service than sailing commercially — and you get:
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full healthcare
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BAS/BH tax advantages
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VA benefits
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stable retirement points
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predictable schedules
Stack that against commercial sailing, and the math stops making sense.
Being a Chief Mate or senior deck officer is extremely stressful, and while $200k might look great on a spreadsheet, half of that gets taxed, and the lifestyle costs are brutal. Plus, unless you’re with MSC, you don’t get part-time options, shore benefits, or anything that helps build a normal life.
The job itself isn’t the problem — it’s everything that comes with it.
The instability, the months away, the strain on family life, the lack of support systems, and unions that can’t apply real leverage because of how the system classifies us.
If leadership in the industry genuinely stood on business, listened to mariners who have actually done the job, and addressed the real lifestyle costs instead of talking points, we’d have a much healthier workforce pipeline.
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same article, just without the paywall.
There was a really solid discussion here some time back comparing airline pilots’ pay to mariners’ pay. Maritime pay vs Airline pilot pay
Beyond pay alone, airline pilots are required by law to work far fewer days per year than mariners. In contrast, a mariner can conceivably work an entire year without a single day off — and I know several who have. That difference alone has a major impact on quality of life, fatigue, and long-term health.
What I’m hoping to do is crowd-source the foundation for a letter to the editor that clearly communicates these realities to the public. I don’t claim to be the most eloquent writer, so I’d welcome anyone willing to help refine or even better carry that torch.
I think it’s worth covering lifestyle factors such as:
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Time off and actual rest opportunities
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Access to healthcare while on the job
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Predictability of schedules
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Shore access (pilots can always step into town or a hotel after a duty day — mariners often can’t)
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Access to communication and family
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Sick days
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The real risks mariners face, from piracy to terrorism, depending on the trade
I’d appreciate any input, examples, or data points the community can contribute. The goal is to paint an accurate picture of what maritime professionals actually deal with, in contrast to the better-known world of commercial aviation..
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What do you mean by ‘coming off military orders’? Is that private/gov’t contractor work after 20+ yrs active duty???
HOWEVER, if you’re saying going active duty as an officer vs sailing as an LDO/LEO commercially…
I’m having a hard time believing US military wages are going to outpace USMM commercial wages. 3/M with MMP should have no problem making $130k first year out of school. Plenty of jobs now. Not as many as a couple of years ago, but still enough. 2-3 yrs later you’re sailing some 2/M and making 15-20% more. 2-3 yrs after that and you can be sailing CM, making another 15-20% more. MMP healthcare is fantastic, and I’m sure MEBAs pretty close behind. And it’s fairly cheap, only 2% of all wages with excellent support. The only bills I pay out at sea are the one I choose.
Based on this…. U.S. Navy Pay and Benefits | Navy.com.
commercial shipping, with steady, easily achievable (IMO) advancements and regular investing, will quickly smoke US DOD officer wages/benefit packages IF you can achieve them on time advancing through a bureaucracy that will dictate your entire schedule and when/if you can advance.
Your thoughts???
He lost me at “Coffee breaks come with an ocean view.” I too often referred to the bilge as my own personal ocean.
And “Shipping companies usually fly them to sailing stints from anywhere, so many live in exotic or low-tax locations.” Ahh yes, exotic tax-free New Hampshire and Florida. And when I was east-coast with MSC, “anywhere” meant exclusively Norfolk, VA.
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This article sucks for a lot of reasons.
His three sources for interviews were kids who just graduated with no debt and have 1 maybe 2 hitches under their belt as licensed officers. Sailing ruled when I was 24 and didn’t have a family or a house to pay for and I could go to sea for 8 months a year. Gets a lot more complicated when you have weddings, funerals, birthdays, etc piling up and you have to decide whether work or relationships are more important.
The opening paragraph talks about making $200k right out of school? Where the hell is that money?
He quotes the 17 MSC ships laid up last year as an example of the mariner shortage. How many times have we beat that dead horse that those ships laid up were pieces of shit whose mission doesn’t exist anymore or are so old they’re useless? Half of those are JHSV’s that can’t meet mission requirements.
“Fat signing bonuses” and “improving onboard gyms, connectivity, and cuisine”. Lmao. Those sign on bonuses with MSC require a 3 year commitment right? So you’re looking at 30 months of sailing in 3 years to get a 30k sign on bonus? Improving the gym? I’ve never seen a company in the union say “hey, we appreciate the hard work, we’re gonna get yoU guys a new treadmill” that’s always up to the master or the crew and the budget comes from the ships fund. We only have starlink because the unions negotiated it in the contract. No company would willingly pay for that if they didn’t have to. Cuisine improvement? You’re at the mercy of whatever shmuck the SIU sends you.
The last paragraph is what really made me laugh out loud. A 3AE fresh out of school saying “Hey, you want every tool ever, almost infinite supplies, and you can do whatever you want”? Infinite supplies? Every tool ever? Whatever I want? I’ve been looking for this El Dorado of a ship since I graduated!
The shipping companies must have funded this fluff piece. Idk why I would expect more from the WSJ but I guess I thought someone there would know better than to interview three fresh 3rds for an article on life at sea.
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This article sponsored by the Kato Institute. If ever there was an article to cry that they cant fill jobs and only good option is to get rid of the Jones Act, this would be it. Inflate what mariners actually make and label them as not interested in working at sea. My money this article was sponsored by some Anti-Jones Act group.
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Got around to reading this….
agreed… out of touch, ignorant, dogshit article written by someone whom I really have a hard time believing actually works for the WSJ.
And interviewing wet behind the ears 3AEs…. might as well be interviewing a USN Seaman recruit at Basic Training in Michigan how great it is be a CO of an aircraft carrier.
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Just to clarify — when I say “coming off orders,” I’m talking about recent active-duty orders, not retirement or contractor work. My pay package included full medical (literally free healthcare, no co-pays), BAS, and BAH. The non-taxable BAH alone put me just under what a 2/M makes — and that’s before counting the value of the benefits.Plus my real pension.
I’ve been sailing about ten years, so I’ve seen both sides pretty clearly now.
People keep saying “the job market is good,” but that changes fast. I’ve also been the guy sitting in the hall for six months waiting on a billet. And yeah, Transocean is hiring today — that could vanish tomorrow. One contract change, one downturn, and it’s a completely different world. Anyone who’s spent time knows that.
Containerization absolutely gutted American maritime labor. We lost an entire segment of jobs virtually overnight, and we’ve never recovered from that damage. The idea that mariners have a steady, guaranteed pipeline of high-paying jobs is just not true across all sectors.
And I’m just being honest here: I haven’t seen many Chief Mates or Masters with stable, long-term marriages. The lifestyle is brutal on personal life. It’s not the job tasks — it’s everything the lifestyle requires you to sacrifice. Most people on the outside have no idea. Should I just go straight to marrying my Filipina wife?
What really gets me is we’re treated like second-class citizens half the time. We work in international waters, operate under insane responsibility, and get taxed like we’re sitting in a cubicle stateside. Meanwhile, foreign-flag mariners aren’t touched by any of that.
That’s the part no one ever wants to talk about.
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It also included a sworn duty that if you ever had to fulfill it would at minimum result in career suicide, and at maximum you being put to death. With the possibility that you might be vindicated years later. Seems pertinent today.
I only remember one sentence verbatim from my 1970 Navy boot camp. It was “Pray to God that you are never given an illegal order, because no matter what happens after that you personally are fucked!” - First Class Petty Officer
Oh, I tell a lie. The other was “Beierl, if I balanced your brain on the edge of a razor blade it would look like a BB rolling down a four lane highway!” - my Company Commander, a different First Class Petty Officer.
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And how long did it take you as a DOD officer to make what you are saying is now equivalent or very close to 2M pay? I was sailing 2/m on tankers exactly 2 yrs after getting my 3/m license…. A 20% pay raise.
Containerization gutted shipping just like globalization and China opening up to foreign trade gutted American mfg… nothing uniquely cruel/unfortunate happened to USMM.
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I don’t think I even worked state side on orders more then 30 hrs a week. Overseas or on a ship a little different.
Base pay for a LT is around 100k taxed.
BAH is around 60k non taxed.
Per diem is $80 per day.
Tanker 2nd mate, I been there umm….. Yeah if get to sleep on your hitch you’re lucky. The salary as mate on a domestic tanker should be in the 300k.
Not sure if you mean should in the literal sense… tanker CM pay is well, well below $300k for 6mos worked
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He said that was as what, a Lieutenant? I think it takes about 4 years to hit O-3 but not 100% sure on that.