I have my 3rd mates unlimited along with all the endorsements below that, I’ve sent in my app for AB and its been nearly 4 months since I sent it in now so I’m expecting to hear back from them any day now. I keep calling them and they keep saying the volume of incoming apps is delaying the hiring process.
Not sure why your wanting your AB when your a licensed 3rd Mate unlimited
You can Obtain a 1600 ton and under Maters if you wanted. Regardless, the NMC is busy and they get backed up due to the federal holidays this time a year. I always advise to call NMC for a Status update. This way you can also find out if there was something missed in the application in which case they would have sent you a letter Anything missed in the application can cause a delay.
Because you can’t work as an AB with just a mate’s license?
No he can’t. A fresh 3rd can sail as a 100 GRT captain, not 1600 ton.
He can’t have a 3rd mate without having his AB.
Since it’s not possible to get a 3M without already having our concurrently getting an AB I’m fairly certain he’s taking about applying to MSC as an AB. In fact, he already said he holds an AB in his last reply to you.
The NMC hasn’t been mentioned.
I don’t think it is a requirement to have AB anymore in order to get 3rd.
Good point, they took away that requirement. Though I can’t imagine anyone getting a 3M without already having AB.
Plus, he’s an academy graduate and they automatically get their AB when they graduate.
Pretty sure he means hiring application.
Seems I caused a bit of confusion. Yes I have a 3rd Unlimited and everything below that, so yes that includes AB-Unlimited.
Yes this is my hiring app I’m talking about, all the paperwork is in order, though I had to clear a few things up with them a few months ago but its been forwarded for over four months now.
I applied for both AB and 3rd mate, but the 3rd mate apps only opened around late october (my AB app got forward around the end of September by comparison) and mine only finally got forwarded at the end of last month, so factoring in wait times it’d be roughly another 3 months before I’d expect to hear back on that so I’m hoping to snag AB when it comes up just so I can get out there.
January 25
IMAGENEYES:
Not sure why your wanting your AB when your a licensed 3rd Mate unlimited
Because you can’t work as an AB with just a mate’s license?
You can Obtain a 1600 ton and under Maters if you wanted.
No he can’t. A fresh 3rd can sail as a 100 GRT captain, not 1600 ton.
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IMAGENEYES
Just BrowsingJanuary 24Not sure why your wanting your AB when your a licensed 3rd Mate unlimited You can Obtain a 1600 ton and under Maters if you wanted. Regardless, the NMC is busy and they get backed up due to the federal holidays this time a year. I always advise to call NMC for a Status update. This way you can als…
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Understood Thanks for pointing that out.
He can now, but it’s unlikely. The old regulation requiring all mates and masters 500 GRT and above to be AB was eliminated in the 2013 rulemaking. The old requirement was in the previous 46 CFR 11.401(g)(3). It’s not in the current 46 CFR 11.401.
Back to the original question as to if there is a lull in the shipping business now. It is slower than it was. The Baltic Trade Index shows trade is down somewhat and trade is what shipping depends upon as we all know. Mild recession in EU and beginning mild recession in the USA as well as “trade wars” all attribute to this. For those with experience in the business this is to be expected. Our livelihoods depend upon people in one place that have things that people in another place want and can afford. We just deliver, nothing to deliver no job. Recessions, even mild ones affect this. Self made trade embargoes by politicians are anther factor. We’re just the serfs working for a wage caught in the economy and politics.
My observation is that the domestic tugboat trade has finally picked up and continues to improve, adjusting for seasonality.
I’m not very knowledgeable about the US flag deep sea trade, but it’s seems to be almost entirely dependent upon military cargo, food aid cargo, MSP, other government subsidy programs, and political machinations.
The deep sea trade has faced political headwinds that has reduced the size of the fleet to under 100 ships. If this continues for another two decades the number of US flag ships in foreign trade will be closer to zero. At some point this may become unacceptable and alarm bells may ring. If there are major changes in government policy, and financing, the size of the fleet could grow dramatically.
It might be that for many Americans unlicensed seagoing jobs are no longer competitive with shoreside opportunities.
I do not see how the US flag foreign going, Jones Act deep draft, and government owned, trades can continue to employ even a quarter of the 1400 kids graduating from the academies every year.
Something has got to give!
Realistically there is no way the declining shipping jobs can support the graduates. They may find jobs in other sectors of engineering and commerce but actually working on ships? They’ll have to compete with graduates of other maritime schools. They can knowledge wise but financially not likely. Mariners from many European countries enjoy paying little tax after a few months at sea so they can work for less salary but take home more money whereas US mariners pay no matter where they are. The Asian countries graduate excellent mariners. Their cost of living is lower than US mariners so they can afford to work for less. Many years ago US mariners enjoyed the same tax benefit as the Europeans but that ended because…well, when you cut the highest income tax bracket someone has to make up the difference.
I do not know how true it is, but I’ve heard that a lot of the deep sea unlicensed union mariners are now recent immigrants. Theses seagoing jobs are attractive for recent immigrants, but not for younger Americans.
I don’t know about recent immigrants but I have definitely been seeing my crew lists filling up with naturalized US citizens for many years. I have absolutely no issue with getting a deck department of Filipino Americans. Most of the guys we see are not recently immigrated, but have been sailing for many years and most held foreign licenses at one point.
I have had a number of immigrants onboard tugs that are not yet US citizens. Some of them have foreign licenses. Filipinos and Eastern Europeans are common. They tend to be hard workers with good maritime skills, and good attitudes (a few exceptions). I’m glad to have them aboard.
On the other hand, I have heard about gyppo companies that load up their tugs with very low wage, low skill, Haitians and other third world villagers.
How does an American sailor get to work on a foreign flagged vessel? I’ve never understood how that works and they never really covered it at the academy.
Go to work for a drilling contractor is one way. But that requires paradigm shifts from the “normal” sectors of the maritime sectors.
Early in the shift from steam to diesel plants I ran into a few guys who got their license conversion time on the foreign flag sections of big multinational fleets. But that’s no longer a thing.
Be open minded, willing to eat table scraps (figuratively) and be gone for longer periods. Do some digging you’ll find something. Don’t ever let your national license lapse though. You will have to find a company that uses a flag that will easily endorse your license and issue a certificate to let you sail on ships of that flag.
Why do ask though?