So I recently posted regarding “coastal transport” out of Seattle. I applied and have a little bit of an in with someone who works there. It got me thinking what are the names of some other companies doing similar work that I could apply to. I am from the east coast and would PREFER to stay over here, however, I have quite a bit saved up and am looking for a company I can stay at for a few years or longer and get my sea time and work a lot. So just looking for names of shipping companies to go after. I am no stranger and not afraid of hard work.
The are no companies like Coastal Transportation on the East Coast. Period.
What you’re looking for is called [B][U]“short-sea shipping”[/U][/B] and it is a pipe dream that I have been chasing, myself, for quite some time. Just as Tugsailor said above, it does not exist around these parts. The closest thing I’ve found in concept are the many ATB’s that run from refinery ports on the gulf to different ports all over the country where petroleum products can be distributed to the many gas stations, homes, and other businesses in their respective regions.
There is work to be had on ATB’s so if you’re looking for “coastal shipping” like we had in the good old days before the last great war then that is the only place to go. A few company names that come to mind are [B][U]Crowley, Reinauer, Hornbeck, OSG America, and Kirby Offshore (which represents K-Sea, Allied, and Penn Maritime, all of which have ATB’s)[/U][/B]. Those 5 companies (8 if you count Kirby’s subsidiaries) represent somewhere between 50 and 100 ATB vessels, each of which require around 10-15 crew (500 to 1500 berths all together) so I would say that is a pretty decent place to start looking.
The only other thing I could recommend looking into is [B][U]“Tropical Shipping Lines,”[/U][/B] which runs a container feeder service between Florida and the Caribbean. This is what I see as classical “short sea shipping” but they are only one company and they do not have a reputation for hiring Americans, even though they are an American company… I would think that they are still worth a look because there is a small chance that they would take you as a deckhand and if you did go to work there it could end up being the most fun you’ve ever had in your entire life. Who wouldn’t want to romp around the Caribbean on a shit-box rusty little container ship?
Check out [U][B]this thread[/B][/U] (also linked above) for some discussion that was already had on the topic of the state of short sea shipping in the United States.
Good luck!!!
‘They’ realized that term (short sea shipping) was a tongue twister. They coined the new phrase: Maritime Overseas Highway. Either way, it is a pipe dream. With the govt budget going down the crapper there isn’t enough $$ to subsidize it.
Hornbeck doesn’t run any ATBs that I know of. All wire boats and tank barges. I could have missed the memo though.
[QUOTE=dredgeboater;102356]Hornbeck doesn’t run any ATBs that I know of. All wire boats and tank barges. I could have missed the memo though.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I’m not 100% sure myself that they are actual “pin-boats,” I just threw them on the list because they are ATB-like in appearance and function, and as far as I know Hornbeck generally runs them like an ATB.
[QUOTE=“dredgeboater;102356”]Hornbeck doesn’t run any ATBs that I know of. All wire boats and tank barges. I could have missed the memo though.[/QUOTE]
Same thing.
There is no way that “short sea” shipping of small items can compete with heavily subsidized roads and trucks. Nor can it pay longshoremen to handle LCL (or even full containers) and still be competitive with trucks.
Alaska is a special case. Most goods are shipped hundreds if not thousands of miles from Puget Sound. There are no roads, and no longshoremen either, in most places.
However, I don’t see why lumber could not be barged from New Brunswick to Florida. Lumber is barged from the PNW to Southern California (which is a rougher trip down the coast with fewer places to hide).
Well this seems to reason why I was having such a difficult time finding companies. I figured the east coast was impossible. What about Hawaii, no shipping lines there? Weird, I am far from any expert but I always thought it would be a lot more efficient to ship goods by sea in huge quantities than one truck at a time.
[QUOTE=tank3355;102366]Well this seems to reason why I was having such a difficult time finding companies. I figured the east coast was impossible. What about Hawaii, no shipping lines there? Weird, I am far from any expert but I always thought it would be a lot more efficient to ship goods by sea in huge quantities than one truck at a time.[/QUOTE]
Hawaii is Matson and Horizon line territory with that car carrier company (PASHA) built in the gulf snaking in some business too
You forgot Moran’s 7 ATB’s 
[QUOTE=ForkandBlade;102370]You forgot Moran’s 7 ATB’s :([/QUOTE]
Aw crap, I knew I was leaving someone good out! My bad! I didn’t mean no disrespect
the only reason a Coastal Transportation exists is due to the Aleutian Trade Act of 1990 which allowed companies like Coastal, Western Pioneer and Sunmar Shipping to operate a common carrier service without having to be licensed as a common carrier by the ICC and could also have cargo vessels be classified instead as fishing vessels getting out of the need to be inspected and manned as cargo ships. Before that Act, I believe all the “fish freighters” fell under the “Magnuson Fisheries Act of 1976” which more or less legislated all fisheries vessels could be uninspected even up to 5000grt. Some pretty horrendous examples of uninspected fish processors have come and gone over the years all of which were ok by the Act. Rusty, tired old ships with names like ALL ALASKAN, YARDARM KNOT, SEA ALASKA, AL-IND-ESK-A SEA, ARCTIC ENTERPRISE & the OMNISEA all come to mind. 5000gross tons of plywood, corrugated tin and canvas and mobile homes on deck for crew housing! I am not kidding! JUST LOOK FOR YOURSELF!
Filthy, decrepit, unseaworthy death traps build to burn, flood and sink. That none was ever lost with most of the crew was a pure miracle of the sea! Thank God the majority of these miserable vessels are gone now except for bloody Trident Seafoods who will run them till they sink!
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We’re Peter Keyes Misguided Children! 
Not true exactly, look up Stevens towing they bought a ship called the coastal venture from coastal in Seattle. She is a pocket freighter that tramp ships for them they may be in need of people to man her. I have had the pleasure of meeting the owners and they are a good group.
[QUOTE=rshrew;102382]Not true exactly, look up Stevens towing they bought a ship called the coastal venture from coastal in Seattle. She is a pocket freighter that tramp ships for them they may be in need of people to man her. I have had the pleasure of meeting the owners and they are a good group.[/QUOTE]
You’re right of course but what do they use her for? Went to their website and it shows plenty about the vessel but nothing about where she goes? She is so darned small how could she ever be competitive with a tug/barge or ever be large enough for any govt cargo?
Well she has a 3512 as a main engine so figure fuel economy with a single load, last job we competed against them was shipping some generators for the government they had the upper hand small cargo shipments mostly government contacts.
Economically that little ship is amazing with the right cargo
[QUOTE=tank3355;102366]Well this seems to reason why I was having such a difficult time finding companies. I figured the east coast was impossible. What about Hawaii, no shipping lines there? Weird, I am far from any expert but I always thought it would be a lot more efficient to ship goods by sea in huge quantities than one truck at a time.[/QUOTE]
In Hawaii, all the cargo between the islands is barged…mostly by Young Bros. In fact I wager that 95% of all dry coastwise cargo is carried by barge with the exception of West Coast to Hawaii, and Tacoma to Alaska. Perhaps 50% of Jax to San Juan is on barges as well. Valdez to West Coast is 100% ship but the coastal clean product trade is way more than 70% carried by barges too,
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[QUOTE=rshrew;102382]Not true exactly, look up Stevens towing they bought a ship called the coastal venture from coastal in Seattle. She is a pocket freighter that tramp ships for them they may be in need of people to man her. I have had the pleasure of meeting the owners and they are a good group.[/QUOTE]
I stand corrected.