[QUOTE=Number360;145110]Its economics. When it was profitable companies built and operated a huge American shipping fleet. When it became unprofitable, say about the time the Unions came on the scene and pensions began paying out, companies stopped building and moved many marine jobs foreign. Now we have been given a second chance as mariners as the OSV industry has emerged. All the older generation mariners can’t seem to admit the failure of American shipping and insist we take the OSV industry the same direction which destroyed their industry. No thank you.
Joe Boss’s in the bayou are billionaires because they operate massive fleets and make good business decisions. I don’t fault them for making money, much of it goes right back int the business of building these next generation OSV’s. If you could fill me in on what other jobs you can make 50k your first year and 180k by your 4th year and do it with a HS education and hard work please let me know. If you can’t use some of that money to save for retirement then that is your problem.
As far as mariners in the OSV industry. There is no comparisons to driving a car carrier from point A to point B. It is a high tonnage vessel that takes years of experience to learn. But, bigger does not always mean tougher to learn. As a supply or construction or specialty vessel OSV you must learn a mind boggling array of different operations. From anchor handling to product transfers to DP operation/certification to ROV operations to offshore cargo handling to lightering support and even driving the boat from point A to point B. So to say a OSV operator should not be able to achieve UL Master should not even be an argument. Maybe the argument should be that before you can get a UL Master you should show proficiency in OSV operations.[/QUOTE]
Clearly, American flag ships are no longer profitable because of unions. And that is why with the exception of dare I say, Polar, Sea River, and Chevron, all US ships are at least 2/3 if not 100% union manned. If there is some random 1 or 2 vessels or super obscure shipper I missed, I profusely fucking apologize.
Every 3-5 yrs, (sometimes less, sometimes more) for decades and decades now the vessel operators have had the chance to throw off those damn union “shackles.” And yet where are we? They sign the contracts they do b/c their bean counters have determined that the contracts are still profitable. No matter the vessel, be it OSV, ship, MODU, ATB, whatever, we get paid what we do b/c the owner/operator is making A LOT more. Doesn’t bother me a bit.
That last part probably doesn’t sit well with CC, but fine. Nobody ever asked to me chip in for the vessel’s mortgage payments.
But the idea that unions and pensions outsourced US mariners and shrunk the fleet is absurd.
Bad decisions and the younger generation’s apathy at Lykes killed one of the world’s largest shipping companies. Corruption and fraud in ODS and CDS wiped out a lot of monies that shippers could have used to build anew. OPA 90 laws alone led to mass scrappings of product and crude tankers that were still more than adequate and safe enough to continue in petroleum based trade for at least 10 or so years. The investigations and heavy inspections laid out by USCG after the Marine Electric tragedy (POS was by all accounts was not seaworthy) laid waste to many a WW II to early 60s vessels that were most certainly past their prime and in need of scrapping or a shipyard period that was not cost effective. Many tankers in 80s were lost due to oil market fluctuations, just like GOM oil patch work plumetting. The export of Mexican molten sulphur laid waste to a few US flag sulphur carriers charters that became no longer profitable. The Waterman LASHs went bye bye in the early 2000s b/c the LASH trade died off.
We had an inflated merchant marine for decades that was steeped in WW II era vessels and break bulk ships that were ill suited for the coming of containerization. Where do unions and pensions come in to play here? They don’t. Did the MMP, MEBA, MFOW, SUP, and SIU have anything to do with APL’s purchase by NOL? No. Even though it was POS AMO, did Seabulk take all 3 of their completely non-union tankers and go union in the mid 90s b/c it was unprofitable? No. Were the LNGs (Gemini, etc.) running from Japan to Indonesia and Borneo in the 80s and 90s with MEBA / SIU and Then AMO /SIU unprofitable? No.
Old man Crowley, by all accounts from every guy I’ve sailed with whom started with Crowley out west in SF Bay and the PNW , was a great guy who was pro labor and pro union and was running one of the largest vessel owner /operators (tugs/barges/ships) in the whole of USA. His punk ass kids are the POS running things for some time now.
We don’t build or repair ships as cheaply as China, Singapore, or Korea. If we did, then Horizon and Matson and APL wouldn’t send their ships their for yard periods. You can’t even pay Mexican illegals in the US what Bangladeshis or Pakistanis get paid in the Middle East ports, or Indonesians in Singapore, or the Cambodians working 12hr shifts on the McDermott DB50 last month in the US GOM ($20/day).
MLL is not really a US company. With the exception of the 2 or 3 USWC MLL vessels, there are no more Sea-Land built vessels engaged in foreign trade. Poppa Maersk has brought in/ swapped out all the others under US Flag and US unions b/c it is profitable. Yeah, it is MSP, but who gives a shit. It’s in the black and it’s union.
So once again, how and when did unions make US Flag shipping so unprofitable?