yet more shockwaves from 3 years now of low crude prices…and another drillship crew out of work
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4108482-chevron-terminates-transoceans-discoverer-clear-leader
and I say that we still have not hit bottom either
Of course I doubt the drillship crew will see any of that contract termination payment Transocean is getting.
the best they’ll ever get is Transocean not blocking their claiming Texas UL benefits
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Texas pays $493 a week now in unemployment. That should be plenty because the cost of living is so low there. Cost of living apparently is even lower in Louisiana where unemployment pays $247 or Mississippi where it ts $240. Guys from Texas could move and live like kings until their unemployment ran out in 6 months. But with the booming economy no one should be without a job for long.
That’s sarcasm, I hope?
No, not sarcasm. We have a business oriented government in power now in all branches of government, finally. The stock market is way up, Immigration is down, deportations up. US Defense contractors hiring engineers and IT people. The educated can always find a job in the USA. MAGA !
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I don’t think most of the people bring laid off from the drillship will be able to find a job paying more than $15 an hour, and only the best ones will get that. The job market sucks ass right now, no one is hiring.
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Maritime jobs are scarce me lower paying, but there are plenty of good construction jobs and a shortage of skilled labor in the US. There are also some land drilling jobs available. Wages depend on the area of the country, the industry, and the rate of unionization, but there are a lot of skilled jobs that pay pretty well. Some places dishwashers are getting $15.
Yeah, those same places also have some of the highest cost of living levels though. NYC anyone?
You almost brought out my inner c.captain with that one, but I’ll tone it down to rationality:
That’s just dandy, but how does that help the derrickman that dropped out of high school, or the roustabout for that matter? Hell, I’ve got a bachelors degree and a Master Unlimited and DPO, and I go to bed each night sweating bullets and praying I don’t get laid off, because there are no jobs out there in my field and I really don’t want to be saying “Hi, welcome to Walmart!” Until things do pick back up. If they pick back up.
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What he’s saying is, “We got what we asked for.”
Unfortunately the majority of us weren’t asking for it.
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The sudden collapse in oil prices happened because the Saudis stopped fixing prices at an artificially high level. US politics had nothing to do with it.
The current depression in the maritime job market was caused by the drop in oil prices to below productions costs, and the resulting flood of too many oil patch mariners into all other maritime jobs. US politics did not cause this either.
The drop in oil prices collapsed the Alaska economy because the economy is based on high oil company spending and employment, and state government spending oil tax money like a drunken sailor. When 1000’s of layoffs happened and the oil money stopped flowing, the state suddenly had a falling population and a $4 billion budget shortfall. We can blame state government for some of that.
Oil patch tugs desperate for work underbid a lot of local tug companies for work outside the oil patch. Most of the non oil patch tug companies have a bunch of boats tied up. Bigger companies started cutting rates and bidding more competitively with small companies.
The good news is that the US maritime job market is at the bottom and eventually will pick up again. There aren’t many new guys breaking into Maritime these days. Old guys are retiring. A lot of guys were never really mariners in the first place, they were just doing it for a quick buck. They’ve moved on and won’t be coming back to maritime. As the maritime job market starts to grow again, there will be a shortage of people with up to date certifications.
Th US national job market is actually pretty good. There is a shortage of skilled construction workers. Trump has cut back on temporary work visas, and a lot of small businesses have help wanted signs and are offering higher wages. I now have to pay $15 cash to get teenagers to do odd jobs.
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This is a good point. The other issue is going to be the new assessment/required classes scheme and how that will effect the break over from 2nd Mate to Chief Mate in the future. When I first started in the industry, it was pretty much taken for granted that one would keep sailing and keep testing until they got their Master’s ticket. You had people go ashore instead of moving up… but it was a pretty linear line decreasing from lots of 3M’s down to fewer and fewer as the ranks went up probably.
Now though, there are a WHOLE bunch of 2nd Mates out there that bumped up just on their sea time that are looking at a whole lot of class time and testing that they may not have gone through in 14 years and honestly may not want to go through the trouble of it, or may not be able to because of the cost of the classes now required. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens as CM’s and Masters start retiring and there aren’t enough bodies to move into those spots.
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HEY! I resemble that remark…
I tell ya…I get no respect
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Dammit… I was just about to reply with that pic before you added it… 
Admit it, you love the notoriety though
While I think it’s a wise move, it makes me a little sad that a couple more rigs I worked on will be shaving my scruffy face soon…
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There will be no shortage at least on union ships. The overwhelming majority of young Academy grad mates I work with either already have or plan to obtain the CM classes and license. MMP pays for everything.