YOUNG BROTHERS, LIMITEDNOTICE OF JOB VACANCYNotice * #:***** YB-21-15 **************************************Job * Title: SECOND MATE(S) - 2Port/Department: CHARTER * ? INTERISLAND OPERATIONS*The attention of all interested * personnel is directed to the summary of duties and qualifications …
What are their rotations like?
This company posts for 2nd mates jobs every 6-12 months. Not a great sign. I had a phone interview with them about 2 maybe 3 years ago for this position. Its all wire work supplying the islands. I think it was 28$ per hour at that time. Maybe less. The job sounded decent but the deal breaker was they dont have steady crew change. The employees set up the schedule the way they want with there relief. I was told the average hitch was 3-6 months but equal time. No way i could do that.
Young Bros. is owned by Foss, but last I heard the pay was quite a bit lower than Foss.
I don’t know why those jobs have so much turnover, but obviously there is a reason. It’s definitely the B team.
Who would expect a short rotation for mainland crewmen in Hawaii? Let’s be real.
Of course it’s all “wire work”, what else is there in the Pacific Ocean?
Funny how everyone keeps saying "wire work"that’s real tugboating
[QUOTE=Tugslasthitch;169001]Funny how everyone keeps saying "wire work"that’s real tugboating[/QUOTE]
Exactly. The pin boats look nice, but as a practical matter those are just ships pretending to be tugs for regulatory purposes.
3-6 months at a time? Haha no thanks. Maybe if they were long tows from HI to the west coast.
Are the crews made up primarily of mainland people? I have no clue. I would think if you lived in Hawaii it would be a great job if you could work 3-4 weeks equal time. The recruiter told me that alot of people would work 6 months and then fly to Thailand or indo and hangout until it was time to come back. I don’t know why he shared that but it was interesting.
Lets not get into a pissing match about wire boats vs. Atb’s. I just thought it was worth mentioning since the person seemed without much info for the job that was posted. Nowadays thats an important piece of info considering not many of this newer generation have alot of wire experience. At least the people i see coming out of schools now. And Last time i checked ATB’s run in the pacific on the west coast.
But since you brought it up and all my time on tugs has been east coast and gulf of Mexico what is the deal with west coast ATB’s? I see kirby has the Dublin sea servicing west coast ports. Do the pin systems get destroyed in the swell out there?
sause bros and Dunlap do that bi-weekly they may be hiring and I know they have some rotations less than 60 on I think both are ato
Its been quite awhile since I’ve been to Hawaii, so I’m not up to date. I cannot say what its like there now. There use to be some Hawaii residents on the boats, but the pay was too low in relation to the high cost of living in Hawaii. Although any type of jobs are scarce in Hawaii, the tugboat industry is too small to produce enough home grown licensed guys. There were also mainland guys that lived on the boats without pay between trips. They didn’t fly anyone home until after at least 60 days on. Sause Bros. and Young Bros. were both IBU, but it was a sweetheart contract for them with low pay. There were a couple of non-union companies. I enjoyed working in Hawaii in the winter, but was glad to return to higher pay in Alaska in the spring. Hawaii weather is not as nice as you think, especially in the winter. Probably things are a little different now.
As far as running back and forth between Hawaii and the coast goes, there is a lot more rolling and rough weather than you think. Its in the Southeast tradewinds belt, so you might expect to always be pounding to windward going to the West Coast, and running off the wind going to Hawaii, but there is also quite a bit of westerly weather. There is usually a significant westerly to northwesterly swell, especially near the coast. The closer you get to the islands the better the weather. When the weather is nice it can be very boring; its a good time to practice your celestial, and catch fish if you are going slow enough. You might have a 12 day passage in good weather, but the next time a 20 day passage in rough weather. Of course there is a big difference between going to Seattle or Long Beach, especially in the winter.
There are damn few ATBs on the West Coast. Crowley has what — maybe 3 or 4? Kirby has how many — 5? Harley has two new small units. Seaspan has maybe 3 to 4 inside B.C. (the Canadians call them “pusher-tugs”). In Western Alaska, Vitus has two shallow draft micro units, and Brice has two small shallow draft freight units. Maybe I missed a couple.
Thats all interesting info. Thank you. I cant believe crew would stay on boat on there time off. Thats hardcore. Maybe if i was single i would try that and just surf when the boat was at the dock but it sounds like a pretty hard life.
Its not surprising at all to hear about rough weather in the pacific. We have plenty of rough weather in the gulf and east coast but i think most guys realize the pacific has some pretty big ass swell. At least doing coastal towing up and down the east coast you can duck into a port if and wait out a storm if you keep an eye on the weather. You dont really have that option going from hawaii to seattle. Thats crazy. Hope the tugs are seaworthy.
I actually live in southern californian and was recently offered a mates job at foss for the summer in AK but i cant give up the 21/21 schedule on the east coast tugs. Its a pretty good deal.