Companies that offer AB to Mate programs

Maritime Employment
1

Are there any companies that offer an AB to Mate program? Hornbeck is the only company that I have heard of that offers this. Please let me know of any more.Thanks

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My tug company has a training program geared towards getting your TOAR signed off and then working as a mate. Send me a message if you want more. I know of a few other tug companies that have similar programs too…

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Crowley ATBs

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Hornbeck will promise you the world and deliver nothing. Unless something has changed in the last few years I’d not believe anything they tell you about training.

Their ‘apprentice program’ was/is primarily a scholarship for people who happen to know office personnel, it was a running joke the first couple of years they started offering it.

Some random “apprentice” who’s never been on boats before would show up on for a hitch and we would ask “who do you know” and it was always something like
He just happens to have groomed Carl Anessa’s secretaries dog, etc.

However, some AB working on their vessels for 5, 10 years would be shot down after writing their essay, going through all the hoops with no reason other than “the class is full, try again next quarter”.
Well maybe now it’s different, maybe they learned how dumb that was and have changed it since then.

You’ll have to join a union like SIU unfortunately.
Chouest actually has a wonderful school, which HOS doesn’t have last I checked and their simulator is as advanced or better than MPT or AMO’s and light years ahead of PMI…but they don’t currently offer all of the courses you would need to advance, they did at one point and plan to soon’ish I’d guess, but not at the moment.

Pay for the few classes yourself skip the OICNW courses and do the hawsepipe assessments instead to save the money. Get Near Coastal initially then self study celestial or just take a class where you can test at their facility and not have to go to an REC.
Don’t wait for your employer to agree to pay for anything, be beholden to nobody and take your license wherever you like, you can never go wrong investing in yourself. I did, and would not change that.

Good luck.

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You don’t need a company to sponser/control you. Start climbing the Hawsepipe, maybe your diligence will be notice by a company that values motivation.

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