Impassioned Call for saving the Merchant Marine

Like I said, I don’t want this job, I don’t want your money but… if you are writing checks send $1M and I’ll do what I always do anytime I need to fix something that’s broken. I find people smarter than me to take it apart and find out the real reasons why it isn’t working,

Because that’s what’s killing us most. Everyone’s got their assumptions as to why this industry isn’t working but nobody’s tried systematically taken apart the engine and looked inside.

Which is why I said in my video we need to start with an investigation. We need a Truman commitee.

Once that’s done we can talk about buying the tools to fix it.

Wow.

I, for one, welcome my robot overlords. Let’s bring in the automation. Having labor for the sake of labor brings inefficency and becomes unnecessarily dangerous for everyone involved. I hope the Navy fully works towards automation. I remember hearing about the Port of Oakland slowdown for the longshoremen who protested the automation of the port.

Part of rekindling the US maritime industry should be improving free trade, and yes that means repealing parts of the Jones Act, among and with other 1st world countries. Maybe a collective Aus, NZ, EU, Canada, UK, EU, Japan free trade zone would be sufficiently able to compete against nations who do not have the West’s interests at heart.

Not on board with you sir.

Sorry, I think I got the idea that you wanted money from the posts where you said that you wanted money. My mistake, will focus on the other posts where you said you didn’t want money.

To move on, my understanding is that you would like someone to do some sort of investigation as to how to help the US maritime industry? That’s great, we’re all on board with that. I’m just trying to nail down something more specific. If the engine shuts down and I yell “SOMEBODY SHOULD DO SOMETHING!” nobody is thanking me for my sage troubleshooting advice.

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If the engine shuts down you call the chief and organize the team you have. In this case it would be AMP. They try everything to fix it, but can’t. Worse, they are puzzled as to why it’s not working.

What happens next?

Well you find the best technical experts you can afford. They arrive on the ship. They set up a whiteboard and computer. They review all the documentation. They meet with the engineers and interrogate (in a nice way) them.

Then they set up their tools (diagnostic tools) and start taking apart the engine piece by piece. If the chief tells them “that piston is brand new it’s not the problem” They take it apart anyway.

Then they go back to the whiteboard and they list all the problems and develop a detailed action plan.

They go home then experts come with spare parts, specialized tools, and repair equipment arrive and they fix the danm thing.

Now how do you do that for an industry with a lot of players and political complexities?

You do what Truman did in WWII:

Well you find the best technical experts you can afford. They arrive in washington. They set up a whiteboard and computer. They review all the documentation. They meet with the ceo’s, marad, the white house, amp, maritime media, bankers, unions, captains, engineers. They review all the documentation on this forum. Then they set up their tools (e.g. social media and investigative tools) and start taking apart the data piece by piece.

If the amp tells them “that congressman is not the problem” They investigate it anyway. If the banker says “the clause x in the jones act is the problem” they find out if clause x is really a problem. If the unions say “the companies won’t pay a decent wage” they find out if that’s true and why.

Then, like Truman, they visit each shipyard. They talk to supervisors. They meet with management. They ask hard questions. Then they visit ships, shipping company offices. They investigate gCaptain and the other maritime journalists and interrogate our team. They spend time at abs and uscg hq and Navsea, and msc and go inside investment banks that are funding chinese ships.

They ask the hard questions just like Truman did.

They do NOT look to place blame. They are NOT cops. They do not look to put anyone in jail. They do NOT sue anyone.

Then they go back to the whiteboard and they list all the problems and develop a detailed action plan.

To save the US Merchant Marine we need to conduct a detailed investigation. This will cost some money and require some degree of authority to investigate. Who has that authority. A few organizations. The senate certainly. The dot and Marad. Or a group like amp that has lots of stakeholder agreement.

The key is when people hear of an investigation they get defensive so investigation is not a good word for what needs to be done. Maybe “ thorough diagnostic“ is better. Like Truman the objective is to make the stakeholders more profitable and efficient, not destroy them (like cato seemingly wants to do).

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AOC and her pals on the extreme left have gone on record promoting the disbanding of the CBP (abolishing borders) and granting migrants welfare and healthcare. I don’t see how an influx of workers would help save the US merchant marine.

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Oh yeah, Mitch and Elaine would be delighted to participate.

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HA, well I’ll be sure to PM you when I hear back from them. :rofl:

With all due respect John, when people hear the word “interrogate” they get defensive even more so than “investigation”. The terms to use are “interview” and perhaps “investigative study” in lieu of investigation.

“Thorough diagnostic” comes across as something a Washington DC lawyer or bureaucrat would say. Sort of like how “Sea lanes of communication” use to be known as simply “trade routes”.

Probably should have sent as a PM as it adds little to the conversation…

Look, if you want to have a beer and a long talk about US immigration policy, its history, and the geopolitical implications and motivations thereof, I’m all for that. Shoot me a PM and we’ll set something up. But unsourced claims and anonymous back and forth on the internet aren’t getting us anywhere.

On a positive note, really appreciate you going back and taking down that post where you quoted the DSA as if their position were mine. I was a bit lost on how to respond to that aside from “please see original post” :joy:

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That’s a good summary of how I’m feeling about the whole idea. It all seems like a bunch of faffing about. We’ve had congressional investigative committees, we’ve had industry investigations, they all came back with the same, fairly well specified set of problems. We need more ships, we need expanded cargo preference and cabotage, and we need the subsidies or protections to make it all competitive with flag states that don’t require US sailors, US ships, and US regulatory compliance.

John says he’s not talking about passing legislation, but our entire industry in the US exists because of legislation. Any new support for our industry is coming through new legislation. Get me a law saying that over a 10 year phase-in period, all US oil exports must be carried on US flag, US built, US crewed vessels, and then we can all have a talk about what a great time it is to be an American mariner. Double MSP funding or X or Y or Z and we can all do the same thing.

Great points. I like “investigative study” but I’m not sure interview captures the intent. The AMP website has a podcast and lots of interviews like this on with Rep John Rutherford.

The headline of that interview is " “We must not overlook the importance of protecting the supply chains by relinquishing control to foreign entities to build our vessels and transport our goods” Rep John Rutherford

Ok. Well, I appreciate Rutherford’s support but he’s preaching to the choir.

Going back to my engine analogy this is equivalent of hiring McKinsey consultants to fly out to your ship to figure out why your engine isn’t working and the consultants writing a report that says “This engine is critical to the operation of this ship. Without this engine our ship will not be able to deliver goods for our customers”.

The next podcast I love “Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA) as he engages World War II Merchant Marine Veteran Dave Yoho” Garamendi is our top advocate in Congress and Yoho is a personal friend of mine and I am a HUGE supporter of MErchant MArine vets that are at the core of this interview… but again it states the obvious: the merchant marine is important and keeps getting screwed over.

The next podcast ““The Truth Regarding the Jones Act’s Impact on Hawaii”” is a little more helpful as it points out some political and media problems in Hawaii but the headlines is “the Jones Act has virtually no effect on the cost of living in Hawaii”… ok but are there problems that, if fixed, can help reduce the cost of living in Hawaii?

The latest is “Cybersecurity and the Future of Great Lakes Maritime with Congressman Mike Gallagher” and here’s the first question: “The big news is the reward of a $5.5 BILLION navy contract for the LCS in your district. Can you talk about this?”.

How about we ask why the F the Navy hates these ships so much they are jettisoning new LCS ships faster than we can build new ones?

THEN Gallagher talks about how “neat” and “fun” it is for wisconson to be developing fully autonomous ships. :flushed:

This guy is on literally promoting the building of useless ships and systems to replace our jobs and AMP’s reply to this is “That’s a great story!”

How about instead of building useless overpriced shit we figure out how we can get Wisconson shipyards building useful inexpensive ships more efficiently at a reduced cost.

And you guys keep asking me why I think AMP’s lobbying is ineffective?? :man_facepalming:t2:

Yeah they all came back with the same bullshit set of problems.

I didn’t say I was against legislation either.

I’m just not talking about the legislation because, in case you haven’t noticed, Congress is completely broken and ineffective.

Yeah, and I want a Lamborghini. :roll_eyes:

I would :heart::heart::heart::heart: some sort of legislation like this. But it’s a PIPEDREAM. The only way we could possibly get it is if we showed all the opposing congressmen’s special interest groups how they are going to get kickbacks by doing this. I’m not suggesting that’s a good idea but, if that’s what you want, it starts by investigating the facts to figure out how we get congress those kickbacks.

A better way to convince congress is to stop telling them there are problems and show them how to fix those problems.

An even better way is to use our newfound power to start fixing these problems ourselves and when congress sees how effective they are then maybe they will provide legislation to accelerate our progress.

And if you want a concrete example here it is:

NYC realized their highway and road system is F’d with traffic. A ton of lobbyist and politicians called for action. A totally unqualified mayor was elected because he focused on this problem. Countless reports were made. Major media outlets talked constantly for years about the problem.

But NOTHING was done.

Then Captain Johanssen at SUNY Maritime drove around the city in a boat and started interviewing people and asking hard questions. He found the most critically broken part of the system. He recruited the best minds at SUNY, USMMA, NYCEDC, UNIONS and other stakeholders.

They the team PUT ON THEIR BOOTS, went to that broken facility and spent weeks on the ground in that location just interviewing people with hard questions. They interrogated buesiness owners, truck drivers, DOT officials. They investigated problems. Then they returned to SUNY Maritime and strategized the problem and next steps needed.

Like me, they offered NO soultions but they did challenge every assumption.

They wrote a report then held a confrenece where everyone was instructed to “Tell it like it is”. People told the truth. At one point the CEO of McAllister berrated the goverment and, instead of taking offense, the Mayor’s office took notes. Huge banks and hedge funds sat in on the conference.

Then they took these facts to albany and issued $60M in grants. They also passed laws to cut red tape.

Then they teamed up big banks with startups and unions with anti-union companies and had stakeholder meetings and invited mortal enemies. And shit got done.

Now, in truth, they tripped and fell on their face at the finish line but you can’t expect 100% success on the first go.

The point is it got very close to working real solutions.

And they didn’t do it by asking mariners to contribute PAC funds to invite congressmen to softball podcast interviews. They did it by getting and publishing the facts.

Now if we use that success and fix the final mistakes we have the outline of a plan that will work.

Is this how you view what you’re doing here?

You’re offering a set of potential solutions based on your assumptions, not just questioning the assumptions of others. That’s fine, but portraying it as something else is disingenuous at best.

You’re one of many stakeholders in the maritime industry. Your ideas on what the industry should do aren’t inherently superior to anyone else’s, and your insights into its problems aren’t inherently more accurate. Calling for industry unity and action while dismissing the ideas or methods of other stakeholders isn’t a very inspiring pitch.

This whole thing reminds me of the Megacorp Union thread. You came in with an idea, received substantial criticism for that idea, and then instead of factoring in that criticism, you started a new thread saying that we all just didn’t get it.

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So what do you propose?

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Quite a few people using the word “Disingeneous:” lately on other threads too. That’s the new word now?

What solutions have I offered?

True but I seem to be the only person able to get thousands of people to watch a 44-minute video on the topic, post memes about it, argue about it at length on social media and forums, burn me in effigy, and post their experiences and new ideas. :man_shrugging:

I’m not calling for industry unity. I’m calling for people to come together to figure out how to unify the industry.

And you’re taking my comments way to literally. A giant “Megacorp Union” is about the dumbest idea I’ve ever seen posted on this site. That’s why I posted it.

Are the biggest enemy is not congress or Cato. Our biggest enemy is the fact most mariners don’t really care. Most are happy putting a few bucks towards their PAC and hoping for the best. My job, the whole purpose of gCaptain, isn’t to dictate my view of the world it’s getting people to care. It’s to get people to stand up and take notice of what’s happening in our industry.

I want criticism. That’s the whole point of all this. That’s why I’m still debating you.

But I do wish you’d stop attacking me and start attacking my ideas. Not that I mind the personal attacks but they are against forum policy.

No, I’m not dismissing any ideas. I am debating them but I am taking notes.

Yes, I am dismissing the current methods. When you try an experiment the same way countless times over the period of decades and keep getting the same result (FAILURE) what other logical conclusion is there to make?

It’s a polite way of saying stupid thoughts not logically reasoned.
. :slight_smile:

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