Having been “barge trash” for almost a decade ive seen both sides of how an oil barge/ ATB functions. Having the wheelhouse guys dealing with cargo can turn into a nightmare, especially if you get a less experienced guy stuffed into a position because he has a steering license. I know from talking to the MANY MANY mates to come from Kirby that they want nothing to do with the barge. If you have 2-3 barge guys who are on the ball it runs flawless. I would love to have the tug mate come sign the DOI, deal with the dock, changes of orders, all the office bullshit. This is just my thinking, but by running the unit this way it creates slugs, guys who cant think on their own.
As far as the classes and licensing thing, just set a goal and be realistic about it.
Rodger Rodger on that. yeah, I pretty much know not to do that. lol Ive been in the industry for a few years now so I have a pretty good feel of what to say and what not to say. I concure about going and doing things on your own as far as training goes. I hate those cry babies that complain about having to go get some training on your own. Its good but in a way it spoils guys here at Kirby Inland.[QUOTE=z-drive;124068]Like the other guy said, while companies may have training programs etc its a joke and if you ever expect to do something, do it on your own. And then normally you’ll have to go start steering on a boat at a smaller company or expect to go with the crappiest captain on the crappiest boat moving the biggest barge for a while before anything else. Don’t talk about getting a license onboard at first. Poison![/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=BargeMonkey;124139]Having been “barge trash” for almost a decade ive seen both sides of how an oil barge/ ATB functions. Having the wheelhouse guys dealing with cargo can turn into a nightmare, especially if you get a less experienced guy stuffed into a position because he has a steering license. I know from talking to the MANY MANY mates to come from Kirby that they want nothing to do with the barge. If you have 2-3 barge guys who are on the ball it runs flawless. I would love to have the tug mate come sign the DOI, deal with the dock, changes of orders, all the office bullshit. This is just my thinking, but by running the unit this way it creates slugs, guys who cant think on their own.
As far as the classes and licensing thing, just set a goal and be realistic about it.[/QUOTE]
That’s the reason i’m on a wireboat. i want nothing to do with cargo.
I don’t agree with officers on a (more or less) 2 watch boat dealing with cargo. There’s barely enough time to deal with paperwork and all the other crap, unless you do it while underway. I say more or less because most second mates don’t replace any of the responsibilities of a mate/master when compared to a wire boat. They’re still up 6/6 for the most part, and with berths normally <36 hours apart how do you keep up? I also don’t like the idea at least how I understood it a Ksea a while back where mates were signing cargo paperwork but not really involved in the transfer. Why not just the tankermen? I like the Bouchard and now genesis way of manned barges with barge crew.
Hey that’s nice! I never would have thought!! Thats pretty cool. That’s a pretty big boat too. Hey, I saw a Crowley atb go by today. Man I’d love to be on that sucker!!
[QUOTE=shipwreck63;124237]Hey that’s nice! I never would have thought!! Thats pretty cool. That’s a pretty big boat too. Hey, I saw a Crowley atb go by today. Man I’d love to be on that sucker!![/QUOTE]
The 750 series AT/B’s are nice boats. They ride really well and spacious as far as tugs go. The barge is a pain in the ass to move around on with the external framing, but otherwise not to bad. Everyone has their own room. Officers get their own heads, and crew share a head. Chief mate does the cargo paperwork, 2nd and 3rd mates stand 6 and 6 in port during cargo ops. AB tankerman on traditional 4 on 8 off, and Utilities stand 6 and 6. During cargo ops there is always two men on deck ( utility and AB/T) and the officer is in the cargo control room.
[QUOTE=highseasmechanic;124240]The 750 series AT/B’s are nice boats. They ride really well and spacious as far as tugs go. The barge is a pain in the ass to move around on with the external framing, but otherwise not to bad. Everyone has their own room. Officers get their own heads, and crew share a head. Chief mate does the cargo paperwork, 2nd and 3rd mates stand 6 and 6 in port during cargo ops. AB tankerman on traditional 4 on 8 off, and Utilities stand 6 and 6. During cargo ops there is always two men on deck ( utility and AB/T) and the officer is in the cargo control room.[/QUOTE]
That sounds like a pretty decent system compared to the 7-man set up on smaller boats. Just out of curiosity for us limited-tonnage scumbags how do things go on the 650’s and 550’s? They look like pretty nice boats too.
the 750’s run a 15 man crew. As for the 650’s and 550’s I don’t know to much about them. The cargo system on the 550’s is all manual valves from what I have been told. The 650s are a smaller version of the 750’s in terms of barge construction and layout. I think they run a 10 man crew also.
Thanks for the info highseas! I just checked the website. Says there not hiring ab tankerman. Guess you gotta know somebody just like anything else. Maybe one day. Hey I can dream can’t I? Lol
They are looking for people all over, I was going to take a job on the jax run but thought better of it. Go on the SIU website, there is a contact info for some some guy, he will forward your stuff right to Crowley. I was talking to pilot a couple days ago, he had nothing good to say about their new ATBs, but then again he didn’t have anything nice to say about anything. Good luck
Man I really appreciate all the love on this site. Ill give it a try seadonkey. Everywhere you go there will be pros and cons. I’ve found out also where ever you go your always gonna have that one negative miserable unhappy guy trying to drag you down. .
The 550’s are 8 or 9 man crews. On the barge it’s the C/M and 2/M going 6 and 6, the two tankermen work 6 and 6 as well. All the valves are manual, the way it should be haha.
Never worked on a 650 but I think the deck crew is the same, but some of them carry an extra engineer as they run both heavy fuel and diesel.
There are occasional utility openings over here, and then a bit of a wait to get bumped to tankerman. At least on the West Coast with the towed oil fleet going away there is a glut of extra IBU tankermen with Crowley seniority.
[QUOTE=50thState;124276]The 550’s are 8 or 9 man crews. On the barge it’s the C/M and 2/M going 6 and 6, the two tankermen work 6 and 6 as well. All the valves are manual, the way it should be haha.
Never worked on a 650 but I think the deck crew is the same, but some of them carry an extra engineer as they run both heavy fuel and diesel.
There are occasional utility openings over here, and then a bit of a wait to get bumped to tankerman. At least on the West Coast with the towed oil fleet going away there is a glut of extra IBU tankermen with Crowley seniority.[/QUOTE]
Interesting. I thought all of the pin units over there were as high-tech as the 750’s with the remote controlled valves and what not. It sounds like they run pretty much like you’d expect everyone else’s pin units to run.
The tankermen are premadonnas up in Alaska. I had one guy tell me the ice makerwater line under the sink is dripping ( I’m the only engineer aboard and had been sleeping). I asked him if he tightened it up to stop it? His reply “Not my job man.” When shit broke on the barge the pussy would run to me like a little baby asking for my help. Fuck those pussies who are paid more than some of the engineers up in Alaska for your “company”. They act like pumping a three product barge is a lost art. The captains up there are like loyal dogs. One guy I worked with was about as smart as one, "he sailed the ATB with [B]only one generator [/B]on it as the replacement standby gen was on deck with the engineer running the wires down to the engineroom. Kirby west coast office is a bunch of snakes crawling for cover when you bring this stuff up to them. You are the problem, not them, as they are manned by people who went to sea on a cruise not to make a living.
