I have been thru these down turns before. This one reminds me of the one in the '80s when many never came back.
My question is what are the laid off guys doing now? Did your employer give you severance pay or did you have to survive on your state’s unemployment benefit until you got a job? Finding employment with the skills you obtained? How does the income compare? Plan to come back when the industry picks up again in a couple of years?
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[QUOTE=tengineer1;173610]I have been thru these down turns before. This one reminds me of the one in the '80s when many never came back.
My question is what are the laid off guys doing now? Did your employer give you severance pay or did you have to survive on your state’s unemployment benefit until you got a job? Finding employment with the skills you obtained? How does the income compare? Plan to come back when the industry picks up again in a couple of years?[/QUOTE]
I have lived through several crisis:
The “Oil Shock” and “Shipping Crisis” in 1973-74 drew me into the Offshore Industry, which was booming.
The Offshore slump in the late 1980s and 1990s was a tough time for anybody involved in Offshore business, but I found a niche; Managing rigs and Construction barges in lay-up.
This one is worse then anything I have experienced before, but somehow we will survive this one as well.
For me it is probably “game over” as I’m getting too old to start anything new.
Good luck to those here who are still able to change with the times.
The main point is to be able to think new and not be stuck in a rut, old thinking and self-pity.
If there is no work in your present profession, look for something else. Up grade your skills, if/as necessary.
If there are no work in your area, or in your country, seek new opportunities elsewhere. The world is big and opportunities still exists in places you may not even have heard about. If I was still young I would probably be in Africa now.
[QUOTE=ombugge;173616]…
If there are no work in your area, or in your country, seek new opportunities elsewhere. The world is big and opportunities still exists in places you may not even have heard about. If I was still young I would probably be in Africa now.[/QUOTE]
Considering the international background seafaring gives, it might be interesting to share experiences.
As for myself - 45, m, German, Master Mariner, full STCW10, 15yrs sea going, management level since 2008, fired “for economic reasons” in December 2013, found new employment in May 2014 with another Shipowning company, basically explaining cheaper labour how to do the job I loved.
I wonder if experiences are comparable …
How much does a German Master make? gross around 70.000 p.a., net around 40.000 p.a. (married with children) (Euros that is, exchange rate approx. 1 Euro = 1,1 US$)
Dear colleagues, I’d really like to compare how expensive I am - as I see it, lots of maritime labour are more or less in the same range.
My company is letting people go both on vessels and office with no period of continued medical or severance. All the fat has been trimmed and now cutting into the bone. Good people with lots of years with company are now coming into work and being told their services are no longer required. Tough times indeed. Some have found new jobs and probably won’t ever return.
People must have been finding and filling tugboat jobs. The job market has recently gotten tight.
Wonder what laid off DPOs do?
good question. No buttons to mash on a tug
[QUOTE=z-drive;173653]good question. No buttons to mash on a tug[/QUOTE]
Maybe they go to work for Facebook or testing video games. Some engineers I am told are getting jobs in shipyards, service companies with land based engineering work and drilling guys are getting whatever they can find from working at Home Depot to driving for Uber.
some drillers are applying their fluid and hydraulic skills to bartending pursuits. Too bad, skoal is feeling the pinch, along with lift kit and supersize tire manufacturers too. Don’t even get me started about the company that makes those exhaust stack kits that bring it up through the bed like a big rig–they’re nearly bankrupt.
I have been doing bachelorette parties and working on the side as a chip and dale. Money is great.
[QUOTE=Capt. Lee;173661]I have been doing bachelorette parties and working on the side as a chip and dale. Money is great.[/QUOTE]
but which rodent are you?
myself? I am now a ship repo man and fiction author after failing in my second career as a lawyer of no repute
They get jobs as harbor pilots.
Drillionaires sit at home and count all that big cash they made.
MSC is hiring almost anyone with a license. I know a couple heading that way.
not to be confused with last decade’s spillionaires.
Most of the one’s I know are laid up drunk in bars at night and working odd jobs during the day. They all bought big houses so I dunno how thats gonna work out for them.
easy now… That’s what I do on my time off!
It’s really fucked up how much y’all enjoy our down time… I don’t understand it… And people wonder why we, the oil patch, hate fucking river rats… Bunch of no good, worthless bunch of people that couldn’t captain their way out of a wet paper bag if you flooded it and opened up both ends… I’ve met few, and I repeat, few decent tug boat guys and those are still some good friends of mine. And for all those that are talking so much shit and happy, give it a little time and you’ll be back mad as fuck again when we make double what you make… Maybe it’s because your piss poor 200 ton license… I’ll make as much as you when shit picks up as an AB…
Chill. Takes awhile to average 0 to double. No one is enjoying your pain though some might remember how a few, and I repeat, few indecent DPOs bragged about how much money they made.
Hmmm…you must be that AB who thinks he is captain. Bet you got a 200 ton and think you could run a large osv when you grow up. Plenty of guys here with big licenses who choose to run tugs because job security is more of a priority and because they enjoy boat handling over button mashing. Also not sure where you got your info but last time I checked I was towing across the gulf of Alaska so I’m confused on the part about all of us tug trash being river rats.