Current Hiring in US GOM

Professional Mariner Forum
142

Its standard in America for shoreside workers to be paid while traveling, in fact it’s the law.

It’s standard in shipping and at more and more tug companies (not just union companies either) to pay full day rate “portal to portal.”

Travel is Not just airfare, but full pay too.

I always tell my company what flights I want them to arrange and what seats I want. If I need a hotel, I tell them which hotel I want. They do it; no problem at all.

In the past, I’ve worked at companies that would put me on the absolute cheapest , long, round about , multi stop flights to save $50. I don’t tolerate that anymore. Nor do I tolerate flea bag hotels in inconvenient locations.

When small tugs are burning $10,000 a day in fuel, and large tugs are burning $20,000 or more, the cost of flying a crewman, and paying him, every few weeks or months is a trivial expense.

It costs a lot of time and money to find, hire, train and retain crew. When a company jerks crew around over travel it’s just shooting itself in the foot, and wasting money.

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143

I implore you to quote directly from the 2023 open enrollment pamphlet on your success factors:

401k - Every year is discretionary. This year happens to be 3% but there is no guarantee going forward.

Training - If you didn’t sign a promissory note when hired for the required T-Huet and Rigging, then you slipped through the cracks. Hornbeck’s training budget is what they get from The Louisiana Workforce Grant.

Travel - You are correct if you can get in with crew that also is going to and from the airport, then you have a ride…else you are on your own and have to burden the expense. I think the MPSV fleet has steadier crews compared to the mudboats, as every hitch it seems 2/3rds of the crew is made up of other boat crewmembers or new hires. You mentioned that you haven’t heard of anyone getting stuck with the rental but that’s exactly the reason why Hornbeck doesn’t rent cars for crew anymore. They got burned too many times and “lost” rentals. I’ve also seen emails from dispatch asking for crewmembers to return rentals for other people as there was no driver to return them. Again…all falls on the mariner renting it. The stipend does cover most of the travel if you live far enough away @ $1000, but whenever an AB or QMED that receives $250, living for ex.Jacksonville or Houston and they have to do an odd crewchange, an added expense of $400, or $500 for travel is significant.

Medical - again refer to your 2023 Open Enrollment and quote the deductibles for individual and family and again ask if they are really good options?

The day rate and safety bonus are the only real reason to work here, and mates and engineers are below Tidewater and Chouest day rates.

144

[quote=“Wasforkandblade, post:143, topic:64298”]
401k - Every year is discretionary. This year happens to be 3% but there is no guarantee going forward.[/quote]

Unless you are working union, isn’t that true anywhere? Don’t all companies kinda go year by year on what the 401k match is going to be?

My wife and parents who work in corporate America/Fortune 500 are the same way. 401k match is never a set thing and changes by year. At least you get a match every check at HOS. I believe HGIM and Chouest announce around tax time what the previous year’s match is and give it lump sum. It’s been a bit since I’ve been at HGIM…but they would announce a 10% match (Shane specifically would say it’s a 10% return on your investment) and it would only be 10% of what you put in. HOS is 3% of your gross income.

[quote=“Wasforkandblade, post:143, topic:64298”]
Training - If you didn’t sign a promissory note when hired for the required T-Huet and Rigging, then you slipped through the cracks. Hornbeck’s training budget is what they get from The Louisiana Workforce Grant. [/quote]

While funding source is true, promissory note is not. I’ve done multiple THUET, rigging, first aid, and other company mandated trainings and not once have to fill out a promissory note…just a requisition. You have to fill out a formal req to take the mandatory class. There is no promissory part in the req for mandatory training.

[quote=“Wasforkandblade, post:143, topic:64298”]

Travel - You are correct if you can get in with crew that also is going to and from the airport, then you have a ride…else you are on your own and have to burden the expense. I think the MPSV fleet has steadier crews compared to the mudboats, as every hitch it seems 2/3rds of the crew is made up of other boat crewmembers or new hires. You mentioned that you haven’t heard of anyone getting stuck with the rental but that’s exactly the reason why Hornbeck doesn’t rent cars for crew anymore. They got burned too many times and “lost” rentals. I’ve also seen emails from dispatch asking for crewmembers to return rentals for other people as there was no driver to return them. Again…all falls on the mariner renting it. The stipend does cover most of the travel if you live far enough away @ $1000, but whenever an AB or QMED that receives $250, living for ex.Jacksonville or Houston and they have to do an odd crewchange, an added expense of $400, or $500 for travel is significant [/quote]

As mentioned earlier, for the odd crew change; the extra cost is expensable and gets paid 1-2 weeks after incurred. If you rent a car for crew change and don’t have a game plan for how it gets returned, that’s on you. Like I said, with a little proactiveness, for a wed crew change, there should no issue on getting a car returned. Sometimes you gotta reach out to the crew coordinators and see if another boat has people headed to the airport. No big deal. Once you been around, you know what other boats CC with you and have people that fly.

If you are renting without a gameplan for return and depending on the office to get it returned, yeah it’s on you. Sorta a fail to plan, plan to fail.

I won’t beat a dead horse, it’s obvious I prefer arranging and planning my own way to the boat and taking the stipend, it’s not that difficult. A lot of people, especially new hires, seem to want the office to hold their hand every step of the way.

I feel like we are getting too far away from objectiveness on this subject and editorializing.

Compared to the insurance I had at HGIM, it’s less expensive and more encompassing. Short and long term disability are covered by the company. At HGIM, short and longterm cost me ~$170/month as optional coverage. When I compare my deductible to my wife and parents in corporate America, it’s fairly similar.

No system or benefit package is perfect. But I think overall, HOS is fairly competitive with HGIM, Chouest, and Candies. All have pros and cons that differently suit the individual. HOS may lag behind on pay slightly, for now. Not perfect by any means, but neither is the competition…especially when it comes to company culture.

I haven’t drank all the kool-aid I promise, I saved a cup for you.

145

No. Some drilling companies paid 6%+ into your 401k even if you didn’t contribute. Immediate vesting. For the most part they aren’t union.Some covered insurance premiums for employee !00% and a small contribution to add family coverage.

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146

Again, travel home is not expansible unless the boat is late for crewchange.

Medical - wasn’t comparing anything to HGIM, was comparing on average and surprised that your parents’ medical plan is comparable considering they are “CorporateAmerica!” I know quite a few sailors with wives that are nurses (mine included), teachers, gov. employees and all have much better plans than here. I honestly wouldn’t mind paying more for a much better plan, as I chose the best plan they offer and again, its subpar and slightly better than what’s offered with Obamacare Marketplace. We can go round and round about this and I encourage you to post anything from the Enrollment Handbook to contradict it. Most tugs in the Northeast have a far better plan with less of a yearly deductible.

Training - Everyone I work with does in fact sign a promissory note for training. I could probably dig up the one I signed if necessary.

Travel - You just confirm that again everything is placed on the mariner for travel. Sometimes you can’t plan and because there is no logistical help from the office, its left up to you and can be costly.

147

I left the GoM in the spring of '16…overall, I enjoyed the 6years I spent there and enjoyed a different segment of the marine industry (just wish HOS would have let us fish!). Admittedly, I bounced around from '10 to '16 but I had a set of “DP2 keys” as Master for a while, upgraded to CM oceans, and had the drillship experience, too.

Travel for the drillship was nice; door to door everything was covered and always had the flight/hotel I wanted. My first job with Aries Marine was great as I made my arrangements to Lafayette and they got me to the boat from there. Anyhow, much has changed since then and while it was a good ride during the last wave, I don’t think I would do it again. For some people it works, but I guess I prefer something a bit closer to home.

148

401k matches are a promise and a definite obligation the company has made to employees. They cannot be changed after they have been earned. At least not at any honest company.

Most maritime employment and most companies are too unstable for company match vesting over years to be a reasonable and meaningful benefit. Vesting must be instant, otherwise it’s probably worthless.

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149

That safety bonus is huge for the senior officers. Otherwise not so much.

150

Once upon a time, way back when, when I worked in the Gulf, I had to keep an old beater car down there to get back and forth. It was cheaper and much easier than screwing around with rentals.

I’ve never had to do that anyplace else.

These days, a lot of companies have Uber accounts for employee use.

151

Amen to the part about a different part of the industry. I didn’t stay quite that long. I was on the horn to dispatch to get me out after one trip to the rigs on an old Tidewater boat. I called my wife while driving home to Florida to give her the bad news as our money was tight. After an uncomfortably long silence, she confessed that she had also just quit her new job.
I got on the horn to the hall right away and instead of driving home, drove directlyto the Orlando airport where the union had a ticket waiting for me to fly to NYC. I sailed out of Newark on a box ship the next morning and never looked back. The culture shock of the way things were done in the GOM at least way back then was mind boggling.

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152

No, that’s the problem with “discretionary” 401k matches where the company doesn’t make the match until the end of the year. Discretionary is a euphemism for no obligation. I think it was HOS during the last downturn (before covid), they used their discretion to decide the match would be zero at the end of that year.

That’s why the entirety of the benefits package is important. And any company paying out on each check is generally a solid, solvent, company. When I was at TOI they transitioned to a 200% of 5% match, every check. You contribute $10, they contribute $20, every check. It’s basically a 10% raise above your salary. Discretionary should be read Cautionary as far as retirement benefits are concerned.

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153

Start a new thread, I want to hear about all these atrocities.

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154

When they hire you they should be clear they “might” match your contribution so that you know you are gambling on getting the match. Discretionary 401k is bullshit and any company that offers such a scam tells you a lot about the owners and management.
They’re slowly turning GOM mariners into Uber mariners.

155

Is 50 too old to work as deckhand on an OSV in GoM?

156

Could you be more vague?

157

Let me rephrase it. Can the typical 50 year old man handle the physical demands of working as an OS Deckhand on an OSV in the the GOM?

I’m not going to bore people with my entire medical history, but I’ve never had an accident that limits my mobility, I hit the gym 3 times a week, I live at 5,200 feet above sea level and walk almost everywhere I go. I did 95 days on an oil tanker in 2017, another 105 days on a containership in 2018, and never had a problem handling the physical demands of the job. But the Gulf of Mex is a different animal, it’s a more demanding job.

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158

As long as you can handle the climate you should be fine.

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159

Sweeping and mopping is the same. So is chipping and painting. No reason th almost anyone cannot be an OS

With your seatime you can get at least AB - OSV.

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160

Lot more than sweeping and mopping, you are the fire fighting team, OS, AB, QMED suit out and are the main fire fighters, besides being a firefighter you will be a rigger, load and offload cargo, at night a bridge look out because either the master or Chief mate will be watching TV all night in their cabin, do yourself a favor, migrate to the engine room, more opportunities for advancement, more freedom and the same pay

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161

50 is not too old at all for OSV work. All the above comments about the workload previously mentioned are true but it’s not too overly exerting. Learning to rig safely is what I would emphasize. If you can work without your cellphone in your hand and not wear earbuds, then you are actually ahead of the curve already for this new generation of AB’s.

As for the engine room. There are going to be more opportunities to move up, but keep in mind that from QMED to an Engineer license with STCW, there are 7 to 8 classes needed at a base expense of approx $25k to do so. Not a bad investment choice compared to shoreside opportunities and cost of education there. Just be aware.

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