WTF??? Who the f’k thought this was a good idea??? We are trusting our meds to the same azzholes who brought us lousy sheetrock in the 2000’s and pet food with glycerin?? UFB
Sometimes we need an activist government to keep our industry in line. . .
I don’t see why not, before I moved inland of the 8 ships I was on, 2 were built in the US, the rest were built in Korea or Europe., and the US built ones were all pre 1990s at that.
Ross Perot was probably the last one who really saw what was happening. The importers (e.g. Walmart) and C-Suite guys thought it was a brilliant idea. Companies who tried to remain in the US were crushed.
That’s right, folks, the country disappeared after Perot ran in the early 1990s! No company in the US survived!
I’ll tell you what didn’t survive - the US deep sea Merchant Marine.
Ocean Going Fleet over 1000 tons (according to the US Gov)
1990
World Fleet 23,596
US Fleet 636
2016
World Fleet 41,674
US Fleet 169
But those statistics don’t tell the whole tale—it doesnt include ATBs for instance, how many of those are running under US flag? Over a hundred? And using 1990 data as a starting point of comparison will capture single hull tankers being removed.
On ATBs and how they captured the bulk of post OPA90 construction:
“As an indication of how quickly the ATB progressed in the US flag fleet once OPA 90 was enacted, 56 single-hull tank barges of more than 5,000 gt, with a total capacity of about 0.9 million dwt, were replaced by 106 new double-hull tank barges with a total capacity of about 1.7 million dwt by 2010 with almost all of the barges functioning as part of an ATB unit. At the same time 62 single-hull product tankers with a total capacity of about 2.5 million dwt were replaced by only 17 new double-hull tankers with a total capacity of 0.8 million dwt. Today there are more than 130 tank-type ATBs in service with a combined capacity of more than 15 million barrels and the ATB fleet is continuing to grow.“. Source a pacific maritime magazine: https://www.pacmar.com/story/2016/08/01/features/atbs-take-over/450.html?m=true
You’d have to agree that the US Merchant Marine is only a shell of its form self, no?
Generational work ethic wise? Absolutely.
Job numbers wise? Not so much that I’d offer to sacrifice the shipyards for the hope (and that’s all it is) that more berths would appear. Mariner employment like the shipyard employment market has peaks and valleys, but changing the legal landscapes is where the peaks and valleys turn into a desert plain never to grow green again.
I tried to look up the mariner employment statistics like the MARAD tracking of over 1000 GT self propelled cargo ships data. Hard to find. Wouldn’t think anyone would want to make it hard to find and it used to be part of MARAD annual reports like this one-from 91 to compare to 1990 data you have on the ships:
Can’t find a current report from MARAD that provides this kind of data, their annual reports online seem to stop at 2013 and don’t really preserve this data as above, but the USCG tracks the domestic ‘inspected’ fleet:
Now these are inspected versus total numbers but gives an idea of mariner employment also you can add in about 58,000 fishing vessels. Seems to me there is a large population of vessels to be manned. Maybe, likely even more jobs than in 91, considering.
To add a little information about the number of mariners in the USA, here is information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The raw data comes from surveys sent to the payroll departments of U.S. employers. It doesn’t break things down by license/credential, etc. But it does give a rough idea of what is going on in the industry
If someone has the time they can find the same data on shipyard workers on the BLS website.
National Numbers
2016
36,270 Captains, Mates, and Pilots
9,750 Ship Engineers
32,530 Sailors and Marine Oilers
1999
20,660 Captains, Mates, and Pilots
6,800 Ship Engineers
27,200 Sailors and Marine Oilers
Is this what you were looking for:
https://www.bts.gov/content/number-and-size-us-flag-merchant-fleet-and-its-share-world-fleet
No, thanks though. That’s just the same filtered data from MARAD as in the graphs above from annual fleet statistics and some additional data that doesn’t have a relevance to the topic.