All of the skimming vessel in MC252 are US flagged and there’s plenty of them. The Mighty Servant 3 is the only foreign vessel setup for skimming but I haven’t seen it at 252. Yet.
[QUOTE=anchorman;37289]They cannot hire Americans, …[/QUOTE]
Issues regarding our lower level licenses and STCW aside, the P&I underwriters are the biggest impediment to hiring American crewmembers. Even American insurance companies balk when it comes to the hiring of American seafarers. Some will refuse to insure us, others impose a limit on the number of American crew.
Our reputation for litigiousness continues to harm our job prospects even though we are not the most litigious of nations or the most expensive mariners. We are increasingly second class citizens in our own country and when foreign flag vessels are allowed to take over our domestic shipping industry we will all be out of work.
On top of everything else, there are no US Vessels of the class and type of Skandi Neptune et al… No US companies (that I am aware of and I am sure somebody will jam that comment up my hawse pipe if I am wrong) have built any vessels of this type, with the exception of HOS IRONHORSE and she is registered in Malta.
If you look at the USCG budget for 2010, (buried deep in some subsection) there is a waiver of 5 years for foreign vessels working the North Slope of Alaska. After that the vessels have to be US flagged. However, with the new drilling shot down, I am pretty sure we will not see again for at least 10 years.
[QUOTE=Steamer;38519]Issues regarding our lower level licenses and STCW aside, the P&I underwriters are the biggest impediment to hiring American crewmembers. Even American insurance companies balk when it comes to the hiring of American seafarers. Some will refuse to insure us, others impose a limit on the number of American crew.
Our reputation for litigiousness continues to harm our job prospects even though we are not the most litigious of nations or the most expensive mariners. We are increasingly second class citizens in our own country and when foreign flag vessels are allowed to take over our domestic shipping industry we will all be out of work.[/QUOTE]
I’m not sure about that - not saying that you’re wrong, but if you look at Lloyd’s, most P&I underwriters for the majority of US flagged ships are foreign companies to begin with, and a good bit of them are Norwegian, particularly with Edison Chouest. I don’t understand how that can be the case considering.
The biggest culprit is ourselves. As in the government and not fully ratifying STCW 95 when it comes to foreign flag state recognition of credentials. That was the biggest problem according to Upper Management when I was working in the office as we also operated a fleet of Norwegian ships.
[QUOTE=anchorman;38526]… most P&I underwriters for the majority of US flagged ships are foreign companies to begin with …[/QUOTE]
When they insure U.S. flagged ships they don’t have much choice do they? The either take it or leave it and they don’t make money by leaving business on the table.
In the case of Americans working on foreign flag vessels, they can take it or leave it. When they do take it, they also take a lot more money for covering American seafarers. When they don’t feel like they need to take it, they just say no to Americans or limit the number of Americans onboard. I see this every day in our foreign flag fleet.
The fact that they insure U.S. flag vessels just shows the hypocrisy of their actions regarding Americans on foreign flag ships.
Are the Norwegian ships working in the Gulf really flagged under the Norwegian Second Registry? If they are it should be publicized to the likes of John McCain and his anti Jones Act benefactors.
[QUOTE=Steamer;38530]
Are the Norwegian ships working in the Gulf really flagged under the Norwegian Second Registry? If they are it should be publicized to the likes of John McCain and his anti Jones Act benefactors.[/QUOTE]
I’ve seen both. NOR and NIS registered working in the gulf under Norwegian Flag.
Alot of vessels are american flagged but owned/operated by foreign companies that set up american offices to make it look like they are american owned…EMAS Subsea actually has a Houston office but is headquartered in Singapore.They bought a DSV ( Used to be the Agnes Candies now called the " Lewek Ambassador) are taking it to Saigon,Vietnam for yard repairs and want to bring it back to the Gulf of Mexico with a foreign crew.EMAS Rep in Singapore says" We are a big company and can do anything" REALLLLLYYY??? American Mariners show them different!!
This unfortunately IS NOT an isolated example-These splitting the hair violations of the Jones Act have been going on for a long time…Why are we letting this go on in our own back yard ??? Mariners-Say something!!Do something!!!
There is alot of hair splitting when it comes to the Jones Act these days…One company has a dummy office ( Literally…) set up in Houston but is owned and operated out of Singapore.They bought the DMT Topaz( formerly the Agnes Candies) have named it the " Lewek Ambassador" and are sending it to their company owned shipyard in Saigon,Vietnam for a lengthy shipyard period.The plans are to return it to work in the Gulf of Mexico with a foreign national crew…Company rep in Singapore said" We are a big company and can do anything’-Hows that for letting foreigners dump in our back yard guys???
This is not an isolated incident-There are a number of companies that are american flagged but foreign owned and operated WITH FOREIGN CREWS…McCain has got to be getting paid on this one …How do you think he found 20 million dollars to get re-elected in Arizona? By selling american mariners,their jobs and the jones act down the river…
Perhaps, we should consider which vessels may provide the best service regardless of ‘flag’. If foreign vessels provide a better service at economic rates then we’ll find that all are happy.
[QUOTE=alcor;42080]Perhaps, we should consider which vessels may provide the best service regardless of ‘flag’. If foreign vessels provide a better service at economic rates then we’ll find that all are happy.[/QUOTE]
Interesting concept…But how will we be certain that the foreign vessels aren’t carrying terrorists or WMD’s into our country? US Merchant marines are screened pretty thoroughly …
How will American mariners compete with third world labor?
Will mariner jobs be jobs that Americans don’t want?
This has been tried in our US Trucking industry with the implementation of NAFTA…The results are , we now have folks from the third world driving unsafe equipment on our highways next to us and our families everyday…Drugs and illegal aliens being smuggled across our borders…We have cut rate, freight wars going on and the winner is the lowest bidder who runs so cheap that they can’t maintain their equipment properly…The kicker is with all this cost savings do you see any decrease in prices at your local grocery stores???
[QUOTE=alcor;42080]Perhaps, we should consider which vessels may provide the best service regardless of ‘flag’. If foreign vessels provide a better service at economic rates then we’ll find that all are happy.[/QUOTE]
ABSOLUTELY NOT! There are both US statutes and regulations which reserve the rights to carry cargo on US built, flagged and manned vessels (the Jones Act) and furthermore reserves the rights of employment of rigs and vessels working on the OCS to US citizen mariners (the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act) regardless of the vessel’s flag. The first one is only slightly being violated by foreign companies but the latter is being blatantly ignored with the tacit approval of our own government.
If you throw out the Jones Act and OCSLA, then the Gulf of Mexico becomes a total foreign manned lake because every company will flock to the low priced foreign labor to compete with the other companies. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?
[QUOTE=Salty2;41878]There is alot of hair splitting when it comes to the Jones Act these days…One company has a dummy office ( Literally…) set up in Houston but is owned and operated out of Singapore.They bought the DMT Topaz( formerly the Agnes Candies) have named it the " Lewek Ambassador" and are sending it to their company owned shipyard in Saigon,Vietnam for a lengthy shipyard period.The plans are to return it to work in the Gulf of Mexico with a foreign national crew…Company rep in Singapore said" We are a big company and can do anything’-Hows that for letting foreigners dump in our back yard guys???
This is not an isolated incident-There are a number of companies that are american flagged but foreign owned and operated WITH FOREIGN CREWS…McCain has got to be getting paid on this one …How do you think he found 20 million dollars to get re-elected in Arizona? By selling american mariners,their jobs and the jones act down the river…[/QUOTE]
I don’t think the all American crew considers themselves foreign nationals, and I doubt anybody from the company has even talked to you. Be careful what you say because your not as anonymous as you think and you could get yourself sued for making false statements.
and you could find YOURSELF getting sued for harrasssment DEFAMATION OF CHARACTER or…jail for making threats like your buddy…Look in your own back yard first deckie… YOU arent anonymous either…
[QUOTE=alcor;42080]Perhaps, we should consider which vessels may provide the best service regardless of ‘flag’. If foreign vessels provide a better service at economic rates then we’ll find that all are happy.[/QUOTE]
Wow. You must not be a U.S sailor with that statement. As soon as they let that happen it will open the flood gates for the foreign crews to operate here and every US sailor will be out of a job, or at least a 50% pay cut