I have a question. I am being offered a job on a US flagged Tug that is overseas. What are the manning (US citizen) requirements if this vessel will reman on foreign voyages?. Ie. - Only US Master or all US Licensees required? Also - The company that wants to hire me says they may be required (under their purchase agreement) to register the vessel foriegn flag. But, they are telling me there is a grace period that it can remain US flagged (and under US regulations - namely tonnage of course)- thus keeping my job during this period. make any sense??
I could be wrong but US Flagged is US regulations, doesn’t matter where the vessel is primarily operated. Each mariner would have to hold a US document.
[QUOTE=BobD;53561]I have a question. I am being offered a job on a US flagged Tug that is overseas. What are the manning (US citizen) requirements if this vessel will reman on foreign voyages?. Ie. - Only US Master or all US Licensees required? Also - The company that wants to hire me says they may be required (under their purchase agreement) to register the vessel foriegn flag. But, they are telling me there is a grace period that it can remain US flagged (and under US regulations - namely tonnage of course)- thus keeping my job during this period. make any sense??[/QUOTE]
Sense? Not really. IF you are working in a Foreign country for any period of time, the flag state will determine, usually through one of their ministries (energy or labor), what percentage of nationals are required as crew. With a US vessel, the Master is required to be a US mariner. When changing flags, you change flags. End of story. I don’t know of any grace period, but some flagstates give manning exemptions for certain periods, for many reasons. Only the flag will know, and most companies will not know till there is a determination.
I don’t know about the Flag. But when working overseas it’s very common to only have an American Master and Chief Engineer the rest of the crew are usually locals.
[QUOTE=Icelveber;53595]Îùóùåíèå Íîâîãî ãîäà ðîäîì èç äåòñòâà Ïîìíèòå ñåáÿ ìàëåíüêèì? Âû õîòèòå âûáðàòü è êóïèòü áðàøèíã - àäðåñ íà ñàéòå. Âíîâü îíè âõîäÿò â ìîäó. Ïðîæóææàâ ñâîåìó ìóæó âñå óøè î äîñòîèíñòâàõ ìîåé âèçàâè, ÿ ïðèíÿëàñü ãîòîâèòüñÿ ê äîëãîæäàííîé âñòðå÷å.[/QUOTE]
That’s what I was thinking.
[QUOTE=BobD;53561]I have a question. I am being offered a job on a US flagged Tug that is overseas.
But, they are telling me there is a grace period that it can remain US flagged
[/QUOTE]
Read 46CFR15.720. Does your tug fit that description?
The “grace period” sounds like it is part of the sales contract, sort of a non-compete clause that has nothing to do with US regulations or laws. Or it might have something to do with the contract under which it is working for a foreign company, or the law of the port state where the boat is operating.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to get the boot. Look into applying for an endorsement of your license by the maritime authority of the new flag state.
FWIW, I did some survey work on a supply boat working in Nigeria a few years back. US Flag, US owned. The only US citizen onboard was the captain. The chief engineer was Polish. There were quite a few Romanians working as mates and port captains, but the rest were locals.
Unless something has changed OSVs, MODUs and tugs got themselves exempted from the US flag-US crew requirements in foreign waters with the exception of the captain. The industry wrote themselves out of that requirement years ago.
I worked on a US flagged OSV in Brasil in '98. We kept a US Captain and on e US Mate (me) as well as the useless Chief and an oiler who was a native Portuguese speaker (US citizen) for abut three months. the A/B’s were replaced with Brazilians immidiately and the rest of us (except the Captain) were replaced once the job was up and running (about three months).
[QUOTE=tengineer;53637]Unless something has changed OSVs, MODUs and tugs got themselves exempted from the US flag-US crew requirements in foreign waters with the exception of the captain. The industry wrote themselves out of that requirement years ago.[/QUOTE]
See 46 U.S. Code 8103(b)(3)(A) and (B)
[I]"(3) The Secretary may waive a citizenship requirement under this section, other than a requirement that applies to the master of a documented vessel, with respect to - (A) an offshore supply vessel or other similarly engaged vessel of less than 1,600 gross tons as measured under section 14502 of this title, or an alternate tonnage measured under section 14302 of this title as prescribed by the Secretary under section 14104 of this title that operates from a foreign port; (B) a mobile offshore drilling unit or other vessel engaged in support of exploration, exploitation, or production of offshore mineral energy resources operating beyond the water above the outer Continental Shelf (as that term is defined in section 2(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act"[/I]