I worked on ships that required yellow fever, flu vaccines among many others. Never had a problem getting those vaccines. For whatever reason the Covid vaccine has become a political issue, I get that. If your politics or personal beliefs say you had rather not work than get a vaccine? Fair fine and dandy. But the mariner shortage is as all employer shortages not caused by a vaccine, it is caused by pay, working conditions and benefits. That is until there is a recession and jobs get get scarce and people cannot feed, house and clothe their families. Then a vaccine to get a pay check seems to be a small price to pay.
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Where I work we track the statistics from mariner applications. Below are the latest annual stats, expressed as the annual number of applications we receive, broken down by percentages for each position. Useful data for us on what the mariner labor market is doing.
Important: The number of applications is proportional to the amount of advertising we do. No advertising, no data. It doesnât reflect the general numbers of each license/certificate looking for work in the nation. Mostly we look for ABs, OS, cooks, so thatâs who applies. We havenât looked for relief captains for nearly ten years, so we seldom receive captain apps.
Note the big influx of mariners in the labor pool 2015 to 2018. A direct result of the oil field bust back then.
Nowadays looking at these stats Iâd say the biggest change from pre-C19 days is a lot fewer ABs. But the number is not very different than in the 2000s. Chief engineers have been in short supply since the 1990s.
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I did, too. Most all of us did. Those shots were all run through years long testing and proved their safety and effectiveness. I am not now nor have I ever been a âanti-vaxerâ and find the use of the term (or itâs inference) petty and ignorant.
I donât think you do âget thatâ because if you did, you wouldnât be making the comment overall.
Actually, no, not at all. Youâre underscoring how uninformed you are, like so many others that share your belief. Itâs NOT that I ârather not workâ and thatâs the part you donât get. These people want to work and theyâre pissed that some others have put a mandate in place that prevents them from doing so. Getting a shot that has proven side affects and linked to thousands of deaths ⌠or not working; is that a reasonable choice?
That is purely voluntary by the way (both organized labor and corporate) and those clinging to this policy are doing so by (foolish) choice not by any science backing their position up. And theyâve lost the legal arguments too.
The COVID mRNA shot is not truly a vaccine, never was and is only called a vaccine correctly because the CDC had to change the definition to âaccommodateâ the COVID shot.
It doesnât prevent you from getting COVID nor does it stop transmission.
I donât want to go on and on about all this. But further to the point about what Americans (and everyone else) truly need to understand, there indeed was much âmisinformationâ which our own government, big-tech, legacy main stream media, and of course, social media websites were all bending over backwards to âcontrolâ to the extent possible ⌠we now know after the fact, they were/are all full of BS.
By their own admission:
But I digress⌠There are plenty of reasons why recruiters are having a tough time hiring people and retaining them. We all agree on that. My original post and point was simply, get rid of this idiotic vax mandate and maybe, just maybe you might see a few more people apply for jobs that you currently have open.
Where I live and work, there are organized labor hiring halls, non-union companies, Federal shipboard jobs, and State operated vessels with maritime jobs. Most all have a vax mandate. They are endlessly running ads for employment. I know people who would throw in for those jobs tomorrow ⌠but vax mandates prevent that. What are these employers effectively accomplishing at this point in time, by embracing a drug mandate that hasnât worked, doesnât work now, will not work without an endless stream of âboostersâ ⌠given what we factually know today?
Give it up already.
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Many companies and unions are waiving that requirement. Have they inquired how desperate they are and whether theyâll waive it?
AMO and its contracted companies have done so to get positions filled. The federal government dropped its vaccine mandate last month, have those people applied for these jobs?
As an aside, Breitbart and the Epoch Times are shit sources. Idk what it is with boomers and not being able to see extreme bias/poor sources. Werenât you the generation who told mine not to believe everything we see on the inter webs?
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Hereâs a snapshot from the NOAA Professional Mariner Hiring Portal:
https://marinerhiring.noaa.gov/Jobs/Announcement/ViewAnnouncement?id=42
Screenshot here to make it easier for ya.
#1 on the list? This âŚ
" Requirements:** OMAO Professional Mariners are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 regardless of the employeeâs duty location or work arrangement ⌠"
The Feds have lost their case in court. Why they havenât updated their website is beyond me. Then again, theyâre the federal govât employees, so what would you expect? Though they allude to âpossibleâ waivers, that still doesnât make the it any easier. In fact, itâs a fricken headache and anyone whoâs tried this (at any other private company or through a union job posting) will tell you itâs purposely difficult.
Hereâs another lost opportunity for the employer here in Hawaii:
I uploaded the screen shot to make it easier. Right there (again) on first page of application, ya gotta have the jab. This is a Federally owned vessel, operated by the State University, like so many others. They have a tough time hiring and are always running ads for all departments.
I love it when guys like you sh*t on the âsourceâ of the information posted without any substantive foundation of your allegation or addressing the actual information in the story. âAttack the messenger, not the messageâ (because you donât have the brain power usually).
I suppose you spend your days listening to the rantings of CNN all day and read the New York Times while sitting on the can. I got that 
Did you really just use the term âinter websâ ???
OMG, that speaks volumes.
Thanks for playing
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Then donât.
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Your profile says âUSCG HQâ
Is that where you work?
Brilliant contribution.
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And this speaks volumes to my earlier point:
I think the whole discussion is getting oversimplified.
The main reason there are fewer ship officers is the same reason there is a shortage of workers throughout the developed world: a rapidly retiring Baby Boom generation colliding with declining birthrates The result: every industry is trying to outcompete every other industry with pay and benefitsâall of which cancels out each other, and doesnât change the demographics.
Covid re: employment is also being oversimplified, IMO.
Our officers voted last November to keep the vaccine mandate. The company cared about mandates in 2021, but not now. The company is about making money the easiest way possible, and mandates donât make money.
The officers themselves voted overwhelmingly to keep the mandate. Which torpedoes the idea that mandates are universally scorned. Moreover, we have more officers in our company now than we did in 2019. So to say that in all companies having a vaccine mandate drives away applicants is oversimplification. It might drive away applicants at every other company, but itâs not doing so here.
And doubtless there are companies where it is an issue. The world is complex.
Our officers vote to maintain the mandate because they see value in it. Since the pandemic started we have had only three cases of C19 aboard our vessels, and no cases of spread aboard vessel. Our officers see that and like it.
They also keep in mind that one of those three cases was of a senior officer, a man in very good physical shape otherwise, who was so debilitated by C19 he had to be flown home during the voyage. OK now, but not OK for several weeks. So for the officers vaccines are cheap insurance.
This November they will vote again on maintaining the mandate. Maybe they will vote to do away with it. But itâs their decision.
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If you worked for me, this would be your one and only warning to âwatch your mouthâ.
jdcavo is a significant, highly important and universally respected contributor to this forum.
You are that annoying fly stuck in the Officerâs laundry.
Please buzz off.
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The linked article in the OP is about the global shortage of officers. Hereâs the graphic:
Most of the shortfall is from increased demand. The supply had been increasing slowly but steadily until 2023. The article cites the war which removed many Russian and Ukraine seafarers from the pool and COVID which impacted training and the treatment of seafarers such as long periods aboard vessels without reliefs.
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I suspect the COVID issue is now less an issue than the lack of Ukraine and Russian seafarers. The Ukraine was always a good source of hardworking qualified seafarers.This coupled with increased shipping demand after COVID exacerbated the issue. These things go in cycles and have for many years. It makes planning for ship operators and seafarers alike difficult. No wise seafarer or long term shipping company is without a substantial amount of cash on hand to get thru these times.
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A lot of people permanently quit / finally retired because of COVID.
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Probably a good thing. Sometimes it takes something like an epidemic to get some to consider it is time to go home live with family 24/7 and not be in charge any more. Give the younger folks a chance for more responsibilities. They are welcome to them.
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They will work when they are hungry
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Doesnât this happen every year though?
A post was split to a new topic: Can technology solve the worldwide shortage of seagoing personnel?:
I see more Ukrainians on ships now than i ever have and all have told me they havenât been home since before the war and are not going back till itâs over. Sometimes they are a full crew, sometimes just officers, and now with more frequency a random mixed in with eastern seafarers.
Iâm sure crewing levels have been effected by the number of guys caught up in the conflict and Iâm sure there are more ships and less seafarers, but Iâm also sure (because i know more than a few) a sizable number of mariners opted to retire or do something else because of the vaccine mandate.
Regardless of the cause itâs the boat the industry is in.
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The crewing assholes in the office/agencies havenât gotten the memo that there is an officer shortage. They still act like evil dictators and treat seafarers like shit lol.
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