Hello. I am currently participating in the SIU unlicensed apprentice program and having gotten off my 2nd phase ship, I am still unsure where I want this career choice to lead. My questions:
Are there jobs available on inland routes and what kind? I know nothing about smaller vessels and their crewing requirements. Are these jobs harder to get (and keep) than deep sea jobs? I don’t want to waste my time trying to ship out of a port like St. Louis if there are no job openings for rookie B books or I am going to be run off by existing crew. Though I would like to stay in the states, I would gladly work deep sea if that’s where the work is. Thanks for any advice you can give.
Get old copies of the ‘Log’ and look at shipping pages. They will show what activity is going on, and where. I recently saw that a guy I sailed with (he’s a recertified bos’n) is now working inland w/ASC.