[QUOTE=RubberRhib888;112079]I agree. Side note: NYC tug companies are behind the 8 ball with equipment, training, and pay. It’s only a matter of time until the motivated deckhands and mates see the writing on the wall. The experienced tug captains are making a decent buck, the mates and engineers are not. Our engineers work their tails off…sometimes 1-2 days straight just fixing the shitters and the water system. And this is on a 2 year-old tug! If you use crap materials you get crap equipment.[/QUOTE]
Even I am beginning to have thoughts… 32 years on Tugs, and the pay is good, but, I have ten years left. Go out with a bang or not!!!
Yeah i didnt figure it was as easy as some claim, but its gotta be better than what alot of us are doing now. Older, tired equipment that should have been sent to nigeria, fucked up travel EVERY TIME WE CREW CHANGE, deckhands who cant boil water, and the list goes on. Never thought it would be better to trade in a ny tugboat job for a mudboat out of fouchon, lol.
[QUOTE=BargeMonkey;112086]Yeah i didnt figure it was as easy as some claim, but its gotta be better than what alot of us are doing now. Older, tired equipment that should have been sent to nigeria, fucked up travel EVERY TIME WE CREW CHANGE, deckhands who cant boil water, and the list goes on. Never thought it would be better to trade in a ny tugboat job for a mudboat out of fouchon, lol.[/QUOTE]
I spent the first 12 years of my career on tugs, two of that in N.Y. harbor, I can promise you from someone who has been there and done that, if the money was even close I would jump off this rig and be back on an ATB faster than you can say don’t do it.
Working on mud boats at ECO is not what I would call a gravy train.[/QUOTE]
I have been reading this forum for over two years. There are countless threads about pay. Whether at ECO or not… $700 per day is a gravy train to me. Maybe you are just used to making really good money…I’m not making money like that. Your perception is your reality.
Ive got a pile of tugboat #'s if you want them… and they will let you work as long as you want to make up the diff in pay. For 700+ a day, you can feed me paperwork, bilges, i dont care.
I am aware that it is a difficult somewhat arduous task to get on with a good company. Obviously they don’t hand out DP certs at WalMart. And I am aware that engineers on mudboats earn their money. I mean no disrespect to any veterans of the oil patch. I am simply saying that when opportunity knocks…you better open the door. And right now there appears to be opportunity in the GoM for higher pay, better equipment, and available training for motivated people.
Im an east coast tug guy that is thinking about heading south as well. The pay scale just isnt moving up and when you ask for a raise they look at you like you are trying to kill the company. I always thought I would stick it out and stay with tugs hoping that a drain would happen and they would HAVE to bump up our pay but it just hassnt happened yet. I have a buddy who is at ECO and he seems to like it just fine.
The thing that worries me the most about the oil patch is: when will the next bust be?? Probably about a month after I have left my tug company and started on an OSV.
[QUOTE=BargeMonkey;112075]Coming from 1970’s vintage tugboats, with 5-7 guys, to a newer boat with a better schedule and better pay, sounds like a plan to me. Heading down in Oct to scout out a new engine room. Eco’s training is whats got me sold, plus a 28-28 schedule would be a dream. I want to know where the tugboat companys are going to scrounge up qualified help, because after july 1st i believe the bleed is going to get alot worse.[/QUOTE]
I’m making a trip from Arizona on October 10th to look for my first OS job. Maybe i’ll see you around if your staying with Mrs. Claudette.
[QUOTE=“BargeMonkey;112075”] I want to know where the tugboat companys are going to scrounge up qualified help, because after july 1st i believe the bleed is going to get alot worse.[/QUOTE]
All these union companies up north only can blame themselves for the crap they put up with. They keep joke unions around that “negotiate” shit deals compared to the rest of the industry. They need to say licensed mate/chief with the same license is making $xxx a day in this market segment, we need to be close up here. No? Then too bad, replace us all. But with the likes of the 333 running around and bozos willing to work for Dann/Norfolk company type wages then nothing will change.
Problem also being there are a lot of company men in the NE trade, myself included. Only a company man to a certain extent, but I let them get away with some crap I wouldn’t if i had less loyalty and the job security isn’t what it is. Allegedly the northeast companies are getting far fewer academy kids; not that they advance any in the wheelhouse but they are starting to see the endless supply of AB’s with licenses dry up.
When the day comes that big gulf companies want experienced boatmen without the BS hangnail disqualifying physicals, will hire without DP, and have some way to solidify job security then more guys will think about it, and the northeast tug companies will feel the squeeze. Until then… (Yes, if I wanted to go down THAT BAD I’d spend the money and take the goddam Dp induction on my own dime). Ultimately there is a difference between someone with 5-20-30 years experience handling barges/ships/towing the coast vs someone who’s just graduated an academy; when they want to tap the talent pool it will be up to them to make it worth it. 28/28 will have to be standard from the get go too, we don’t want to hear “well maybe you can find a relief that wants to do it.”
Ive heard the “if you dont wanna do it, someone else will”, and “we can replace all of you” for quite sometime now. Alot of guys in the NE are 101% company loyal, and yes sometimes it does benefit both sides. I just dont see the people coming out here to work, and how many people actually work out before you get a dedicated guy who does his job, shows up for crewchange…??? I know the day rates for the tugs arent what the big stuff is, but there is a huge diff in pay, just in NYC, forget Baltimore or Philly. I know some awesome grads who are chief, and ive seen some horrible grads who can almost sink a tug, sitting in the yard. Yes true story. The maritime grads have a leg up on most of us, because they can go ashore alot easier. My point is, none of the qualified people are getting younger, alot of the tankerman are 50+, it just pisses me off because after being with someone for almost a decade, working almost every boat in the fleet, and you start off negotiations telling us 0-0-3%, it really makes you wonder wtf.
Yeah! Yet Mista (insert bayou name) allegedly gives out a hundred dollar raise here there to work on new stuff? Different work for different people but some of the decisions being made up this way just don’t always add up.
Most of the top academy kids head straight to the drillships, rigs, lay barges etc. with even time schedules, paid travel, paid training (as in all expenses, plus full salary paid), and top money.
Most of the second tier academy kids go the to Gulf boat companies, but then leave for the rigs as soon as they get their DP certificate. The Gulf boat companies are getting sick of this, but they still keep hiring the kids anyway, and disqualifying experienced can do guys with bullshit physical requirements.
The third tier academy kids go where ever they can, if anywhere. They are apt to be your new deckhand.
For most of my career decent tug jobs were hard to get and the companies liked to say “tug captains are a dime a dozen.” Now things have changed. The Master of Towing license has made us a lot more valuable and a lot harder to replace. Companies now have to work to find enough guys to hire. And I am surprised when I see some of the bozos that they are hiring.
A Master of Towing license should be worth at least as much as a DP certificate. The more people that start voting with their feet the better off we will all be. The difference between 25 years ago and now is that there is no cheap help anywhere else in the US that can be brought in to replace us.
[QUOTE=“tugsailor;112204”]Most of the top academy kids head straight to the drillships, rigs, lay barges etc. with even time schedules, paid travel, paid training (as in all expenses, plus full salary paid), and top money.
Most of the second tier academy kids go the to Gulf boat companies, but then leave for the rigs as soon as they get their DP certificate. The Gulf boat companies are getting sick of this, but they still keep hiring the kids anyway, and disqualifying experienced can do guys with bullshit physical requirements.
The third tier academy kids go where ever they can, if anywhere. They are apt to be your new deckhand.
For most of my career decent tug jobs were hard to get and the companies liked to say “tug captains are a dime a dozen.” Now things have changed. The Master of Towing license has made us a lot more valuable and a lot harder to replace. Companies now have to work to find enough guys to hire. And I am surprised when I see some of the bozos that they are hiring.
A Master of Towing license should be worth at least as much as a DP certificate. The more people that start voting with their feet the better off we will all be. The difference between 25 years ago and now is that there is no cheap help anywhere else in the US that can be brought in to replace us.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=“tugsailor;112204”]Most of the top academy kids head straight to the drillships, rigs, lay barges etc. with even time schedules, paid travel, paid training (as in all expenses, plus full salary paid), and top money.
Most of the second tier academy kids go the to Gulf boat companies, but then leave for the rigs as soon as they get their DP certificate. The Gulf boat companies are getting sick of this, but they still keep hiring the kids anyway, and disqualifying experienced can do guys with bullshit physical requirements.
The third tier academy kids go where ever they can, if anywhere. They are apt to be your new deckhand.
For most of my career decent tug jobs were hard to get and the companies liked to say “tug captains are a dime a dozen.” Now things have changed. The Master of Towing license has made us a lot more valuable and a lot harder to replace. Companies now have to work to find enough guys to hire. And I am surprised when I see some of the bozos that they are hiring.
A Master of Towing license should be worth at least as much as a DP certificate. The more people that start voting with their feet the better off we will all be. The difference between 25 years ago and now is that there is no cheap help anywhere else in the US that can be brought in to replace us.[/QUOTE]
Let the record show that in the not so distant past I was an “Academy kid,” and retain all authority to shit-talk academy kids at my choosing. Its like fat people can call other fat people fat etc…
For 700+ a day, you can feed me paperwork, bilges, i dont care.