A few years ago I came out of school and landed a job with a coastwise tug & barge company. After 5 months of cleaning toilets as a deckhand and no sign of my superiors wanting to train me as a mate I bolted for a job I was qualified for, vowing to never go back to tugs. Next thing my career starts moving with a tanker company and now I am sailing as 2nd mate with a 1600Ton master license.
A few years later and now the long hitches are starting to take a toll on me. Now that I have experience and a 1600Ton Master, should I go back to inland Tug/barge or OSV’s or similar? I live in the Gulf Region. When I started out on Tug and barges I was surrounded by uneducated people who believed in “rite of passage” and basically did not train me because it seemed to me that I was a threat to their job, when the truth is I am just out for a job…not their job. Also, one Mate told me that I had it too easy and he believed you had to clean toilets…etc as deckhand for 2 years before being promoted, even though I had all the credentials. Is this the predominant attitude in the GOM?
For the most part my superiors at my tanker company(and ships in general) are well rounded, intelligent, and friendly who take you under their wing to train and promote. I have a bad feeling thats not the case with inland tug/barges and Supply vessels.
For those who have have knowledge regarding this please tell me I am wrong. I would like to make this jump but the bad experience from the past has me worried and I refuse to be treated like a POS. I treat my subordinates better than I treat myself…and in return they go the extra mile to help me when I need it.
One thing you should take note of. Uneducated does not = Stupid. I don’t know how bad your situation was, but if you come back expecting the worst, you will ostracize yourself and you will be miserable. Things have not drastically changed in the past few years. I worked with a ton of great uneducated captains on OSV’s that taught me a ton and I would not be as far as I am today without their instruction and guidance. Your problem may not be the uneducated people, but the company you chose to work at or the particular vessel you were on. A little hard work goes a long way and you will have to prove yourself over and over again. You’re only as good as your last hitch. Of course I may be one of the uneducated fellars.
With that said I can’t tell you you are wrong because there are dipsticks everywhere, educated or otherwise. You could work on one vessel in a company and everything is fine as pie. Or you could go to another vessel in the same company and be miserable. I can tell you on these newer supply vessels there is going to be someone on there that has his head screwed on tight. These vessel are getting more and more sophisticated, more bells and whistles. Most of the schedules for OSV’s are 2 for 1 though. If you want a better schedule you may need to go to drilling rigs. Those are all even time. They even limit the number of days they will let you work. I recently wanted to work 9 weeks straight and they made me go home for a week. There are a few boat companies that work even time if you look for them. One thing I can say is I don’t think you will be treated like a POS. You will have to endure some criticism and ribbing (friendly joking). That is just part of the training package.
Yeah I have no problem with ribbing I do it myself for that matter. I like the fraternity style life of being at sea so teasing is part of the job. When I mean uneducated I am not really talking about people who did not go to school, I am talking about people who refuse to hear insight, balk at inquisitive questions, refuse to train(and then complain that he has no relief…did he ever think its because he never trained one?), blatantly disregards policies(I know we all have to cut corners sometimes), plays games, basically has the attitude of everyone is an idiot except me and plays god.
Perhaps I should go after the hi tech supply vessels.
One angle to consider is you can get DP training on the supply vessels. Once you get that DP certification you can easily get on a dynamically positioned drillship or Semi, but if you are going to wind up there eventually it may be better to try and get there now. Maybe work as a deck mate. With an Unlimited license you can get a BCO endorsement after 28 days as a Ballast Control Operator trainee, MODU Stability class (5days), BCO class (5days) and MODU survival suit training. Once you get your BCO you will have a better chance at getting DP training. A lot of places serve this as a dual role. Normally DPO and BCO are the same person. There are opportunities to be had, I think the deciding factor will be money.
Thanks Capt Lee. Actually I originally tried to get on drillships but I got offered the job when I was at sea and instead of quitting on the spot I did the right thing and fulfilled the hitch and lost out on the drillship job. I guess I should have ran when i had the chance! Now I see all over the net that almost all of the companies only want mates with DP licenses and experience. How do you get the job if there are no training programs with DP to get the cert? Not many companies invest in you to train on this.
I see that you work for Seadrill. Do they hire and train you to get the DP cert? Do you know of any OSV companies that provides the DP training? Thanks
[quote=Journey;27293]Thanks Capt Lee. Actually I originally tried to get on drillships but I got offered the job when I was at sea and instead of quitting on the spot I did the right thing and fulfilled the hitch and lost out on the drillship job. I guess I should have ran when i had the chance! Now I see all over the net that almost all of the companies only want mates with DP licenses and experience. How do you get the job if there are no training programs with DP to get the cert? Not many companies invest in you to train on this.
I see that you work for Seadrill. Do they hire and train you to get the DP cert? Do you know of any OSV companies that provides the DP training? Thanks[/quote]
hello.
yes, their are companies which train as junior DPOs
Though, initially the wages are very low!
Try contacting "svsmarine@yahoo.com". Their is a vacancy right now/today for Junior trainee DPO. However, their would be a bond to work for 3 years after the completion of training with them.
I have over 25,000 hours of DP time. When I hired on I was already a DP operator, but I can tell you I learned a lot. There are more options on the DP system on a drilling rig and the reference systems are more complicated.
They have hired people with no DP training at all. We currently have 4 trainees right now. One was already a DPO but he did not have a license. One was a tug boat captain and commercial fisherman that had no idea what DP even stood for. One worked in the wharehouse here on the rig. One is an airline pilot that had never worked offshore in his life and started out here as a roustabout. All of these guys have been going to training classes almost everytime off and Seadrill is picking up the tab. One of these guys has even been promoted to full DPO position because of his hard work. He has to get his UL license though. We just hired a trainee that has a 3rd Mates license and has taken the Basic DP class on his own. He will receive the rest of the training he needs here. To answer your question…Yes they will provide the training for the right candidate.
Edison Chouest Offshore is your best bet to getting DP training the quickest because they have their own Nautical Institute approved class at their in house training center. I can attest to you that it is first class. With that said, all OSV companies offer the training to the right candidate. The trick will be proving that you are the right candidate. They don’t want to shell out the bucks for someone that is just passing through. HOS, Otto Candies, Seacor, Tidewater, Guidry Brothers, Gulf Offshore Logistics, Laborde Marine, Aries Marine, the list goes on and on. They all have DP vessels.
Capt Lee’s advice is top notch as far as I’m concerned. The only area where I am in slight disagreement with him is in the desireablility of working as a DPO on a drillship at your youngish age. Like him I have have many many hours DP time, prior to all that I shipped out on various vessels after graduating from a maritime school in 86. My firm belief is that young maritime graduates benefit from shipping out for at least 15-20 years before becoming a DPO; also in my significant experience pure DPO jobs are dull, dull, dull. (shipping out = fun. DPO = dull)
SO, my advice is to ship out on those massive high tech Supply Vessels: they are really quite amazing (I recently filled in for a few weeks on the Bourbon Peridot, a new Norweigan flagged 5000 ton MPSV, we were doing a pipeline survey over in africa. WOW, what a ship & a great crew.) If you are wary of the “Bubba Factor” then just work outside the gulf of mexico, there are plenty of opportunities worldwide.
Journey, one bit of advice. Do whatever you can to brush up on your ship-handling skills if you choose to come to OSV’s. You will be shoehorning vessels into tight spots. Seems to me they are more helpful to the guys on purely Mates tickets vice those with a Full Master license. I guess the idea being a 1600 Master should already know WTF he is doing. I actually don’t disagree with the reasoning.
Hi Journey:
Others have knowledge of the Oil Patch, I don’t. But the Tug industry is where it’s at for me. I know that I would not be where I am today if a couple Cap’s, and Mates had not shared knowledge with me in the early days. That said, you may have been stuck in a bad spot initially. Yes, there are some stubborn guys out there who won’t open up and train, but conversely there are many who will.
You have hit on the problem of the decades! There is a real conundrum here. Although My experience is in the Coastwise towing industry, I empathize with you about the difficulty getting a ‘wing’ to be taken under anywhere!
Being hired at a company that will use you (without being checked out) is indicative of the type of professionalism (or lack thereof) that the company has.
But, a company that will hire and let you train (or be checked off) is the company that you should look for. Sorry, but I don’t have a list of such companies! However in this time of low availability of jobs, and recent layoffs in the East Coast trade there is a glut of qualified tugboat operators. Actually I think there is no ‘magic’ list of companies! I think it is how you present yourself, and how the Captain ‘takes’ to you or visa versa.
My philosophy for training is simple. A candidate should show me that not only is he/she able (or actually extraordinary) at the deck hand job, and takes the time and goes above and beyond to take time to learn (both on and off watch) and drive at every opportunity.
If I have (and I HAVE had a few) an individual who thinks they should be handed the throttles just because of either a degree or who their parents are they go to the bottom of the pile. I get a kick out of people who think they are too good to deck while learning. I certainly know that I don’t want a Mate driving my tug who doesn’t know what the job of deckhand entails! I am certainly unable to judge someone over the phone, or at first glance. I know others who make initial judgment and slam the door. That is the dilemma. Where do you go for a fair shot?
I guess it is a personal decision. You don’t say it, but do you have the MTV endorsement? That would be a huge consideration for you. The ability to go and have a toar filled out would mean you would need to go back and deck and get that done to go back on tugs in the wheelhouse.