Given how low ITF wages are, how do foreign mariners afford to pay for all these courses.
A lot of us spend $5000 a year on courses. It’s a lot of money for us. How does a $2000 a month mariner afford all these courses. Some of the foreign courses are cheaper than US, but others are more, or about the same as here in the US.
ITF wages are minimum. Lots of mariners are paid a lot more than the minimum.
Some may get sponsored by their employers, whether that be direct Owners, Ship managers or just Crewing agents.
I most European countries all the necessary courses goes into their basic education per STCW requirement, or in countries that has them, Academies, which fully or mostly free.
Refresher courses are usually sponsored for those on permanent employment, but may be required to be current for new hires, seasonal hired crews, or contractors etc.
I assume that the companies. like Seagull, who offer these courses are mainly paid by companies, or through Government sponsored re-education schemes.
Even as a freelance Consultant/Surveyor I have never paid for any courses, such as Survival, HUET, etc. and I have gone through many over the years.
Obviously the ways things are done in the US are very different from Europe and most other places.
I didn’t find any actual pay scale, but here is a link to a model agreement between Norwegian Shipowners Association and the Polish Seamen’s Union for employment on non-Norwegian registered vessels owned by Norwegian companies (regardless of flag I believe):
www.dano.com.pl/download/POLAND_PSU_MOD_2017-2018.pdf
PS> I don’t think they are paid ITF minimum wages though.
I may have been a bit flippant in my comment re the abandonment of radar endorsement recerts but we are talking about a one day class mariners had to make time and spend money for.
It could be done in less time with fewer stale coffee breaks and if everyone including the instructors cut out the BS and the sea stories. Forcing mariners to travel to a class lasting a matter of hours is an extra burden on those whose training expenses come out of their own pocket.
There’s gotta be a way they can bundle it with something else.
BTW regarding the lead line reference. There were a couple of questions my first license exam about lead line markings. I remember it because I hadn’t studied lead lines and it came out of left field.
A good project for MARAD would be to develope “blended learning” STCW courses, and make the study material and practice exams available on line for free. We could study on our own, and just go to school for the pool, fire field, and what not exercises. Three weeks of STCW courses could be condensed to a week of classroom time at a school. The exams should be at an independent testing center.
Change requirement to 10 years or 8 years, the last radar re cert i took was useful, as a collision avoidance mini simulator, included chart plot work. i enjoyed it. Remember some unlimited license holders out there do not get the opportunity to actually navigate high traffic areas or any traffic areas while underway…
If there is any continued refresher training I would expect it to be primarily on five year cycles.
And yes blended learning would be fantastic, especially if there was an effective and cost efficient method to assure the integrity of the training (that means ‘you’ really did do that online training you claim to have done).
I was wondering if anyone has heard an update on whether this went anywhere?
I don’t think it’s even had time to yet.
Talked to NMC a couple of weeks ago, and it is still required. You can google to find some schools that offer it on line.
Is it fully online or online study prep with an in person exam / simulator exam?
I just checked within a few weeks for a British friend of mine who has a Liberian license that requires renewal. I found him one approved for that, fully online, but the USCG approved course was online study & prep followed by an in person exam.
Google all you want, just make sure the actual class you are signing up to take is on the list of approved courses and the school can provide a course approval certificate for the actual class you are signing up for.
For the foreseeable future, the easiest thing is to just go take the one day radar course/exam at a school where they make sure everyone passes. $200, one day and done. No problem. At least it will be the last time.
Calhoon MEBA offered one, but according to their website, they are no longer doing it.
Another one is Sea School, but their web page is down for renovation. They can be contacted by email or phone.
Hopefully it can be done through them. Otherwise it is a 9 hr drive to the nearest school for me.
Sea School is no longer doing it.
I just did mine through Calhoun a couple months ago
Er …not in my lifetime were training courses ever free and despite doing the basic training there has always been refreshers (in the UK) -Manila just formalises the refreshers and creates a level playing field.
Sorry to hear that the burden is on the seafarer in US rather than the employer which neatly ties in with another thread and answers why the US is not compliant with the MLC.