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Australian industry first mate reporting. AusGoons with questions on the local industry ask away. It's a little different in terms of life aboard, and very different in terms of training and getting a job. Huge demand for people, though. That's the same. I like the idea of having a dual engine/deck ticket, but I doubt I'd like going back to cadet wages for any period of time to make it happen 
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Mar 28, 2011 12:45
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I just bailed on my last ship and am about to embark on an overseas holiday with my sea tickets in hand. Is the manning situation in North America dire enough that an Australian-ticketed chief mate could get work as a second or third mate there? Oil endorsements and product tanker experience here.
StopShootingMe fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Aug 27, 2011 |
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Aug 27, 2011 22:44
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Have any of you guys worked for Seabourn Cruises? I dropped an application in yesterday and already have a positive response, I figure now's a good time for me to learn what I can, or to heed warnings from former employees Preparing to cry over the drop in wages and leave from tankers to white boat junior officer role...
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Nov 25, 2011 01:49
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DP ships often have MEOs due to the power distribution system and electric motors. I guess any ship with a serious diesel electric system (propulsion or passenger ship hotel load) would need a MEO, right? Engineers correct me, please.
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Dec 16, 2011 13:34
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This is weird. I just joined an FPSO off the NW Australian coast, it's my first time on this sort of ship. I'm not called the Chief Mate, instead it's POT S&O (Production Operations Technician Storage and Offtake), the marine department doesn't run the show, the Captain and I spent the day on deck changing an I.G. valve, nobody is allowed on the bridge (including myself, I think) and the safety culture is bananas. I am not allowed to carry a deck knife until I complete a module of computer based training. And really I'm not even allowed to carry one then because I'm not a rating/OS/AB (they're not called that, they're called General Operations somethings). But they're paying me $1200 a day so I'll just keep my opinions to myself.
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Dec 27, 2011 12:57
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Not sure about ginger beers, can't hurt to apply with the main operators. You're a kiwi, yeah? Or was that another guy?
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Dec 31, 2011 05:59
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They should really be issuing you with all your PPE, right?
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Jan 11, 2012 02:49
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pazrs posted:I'm on a 255m bulk carrier, that is coal powered! One of only two in the world. Pics to come, any questions ask away. Gladstone - Weipa run?
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Mar 2, 2012 07:10
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I'm flying out to Norway next week to pick up a ship, sailing back to Sydney via the Cape, no Suez because pirates. 13,500NM voyage, apparently.
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May 4, 2012 23:40
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Bunkers in Cape Town. I'm just hoping we have some sort of internet access, the ship will come with it (Scandinavian fancy buildsmanship) but I won't be surprised if the company pulls it straight off to save money. Then can't understand why the ship is in trouble for having uncorrected electronic charts (it's a paperless chart system).
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May 5, 2012 00:21
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Trench_Rat posted:some sort of offshore supply vessel? Yeah, big DP ROV vessel, multiple moonpools, heavy crane, helipad, all that. I've been on one like it from the same yard, beautiful build quality. Polished wooden floors and glass throughout, paperless bridge etc...
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May 7, 2012 23:58
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Crossing the Bay of Biscay on the way from Alesund, Norway to Cape Town. We'll be taking a look at the Madeira Archipelago and the Canaries on the way through. Beats working in a cubicle.
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May 30, 2012 17:20
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Trench_Rat posted:Can you go from Ålesund to Cape Town with out refueling? Yep, and we'll take bunkers there to do a run from Cape Town to Sydney, another six and a half thousand miles or so. Just passing through the Madeira islands as I write this. The main island is in the distance and we won't pass it during daylight, but drat it looks big. Just a big mountain rising out of the sea. magpie posted:Hey I might pass you on our way up! We're going West Africa to West Europe. We passed the Canaries and Cabo Verde on the way down and will do something similar on the way back. The heat got stupid off Liberia and Ivory Coast with virtually no wind; I wish I had a fridge in my cabin. What's your ship called, I'll look out for it on the AIS. And are you a mate? What watch are you on? I'll be on the 12-4. I have a fridge in my cabin. This Norwegian built ship is bullshit. There's an integrated entertainment system (so movies and TV on demand in all cabins), many lounges around the ship, accommodation for 100 but only 19 of us aboard.
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May 31, 2012 19:36
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I've gone down in a freefall lifeboat, it was fun. Just don't smash your knees into the dash. Goodtime Pancreas, does your company work on "torpedo launch" lifeboats?
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Aug 11, 2012 00:38
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Don't let these guys bring you down, it can work fine. I've been saving like a motherfucker since I got my first ticket five years ago, and have over $300K in the bank, I'm not planning on starting a business, but I am planning on having a house with no mortgage owed in a few years time. I also plan to start a distance ed uni course soon, so maybe in five or six years I'll have a house paid off and a degree so I can leave the sea. I'm looking at Geology, that way I'll be a long way from sea, tapping rocks with a sharp hammer Or I could end up getting sent back to sea on seismic survey ships, except not as marine crew, that would be funny *EDIT* But just to clarify for those considering going to sea: I am single, and have basically no friends ashore, and would think very hard before getting involved in a relationship and extraordinarily hard before having kids in this line of work. It's not for everyone, but I was weird before I went to sea, so. StopShootingMe fucked around with this message at 12:25 on Aug 16, 2012 |
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Aug 16, 2012 12:22
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Not in America, buddy, insanely low interest rates are not universal
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Aug 17, 2012 05:45
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The Huff Post posted:Weapons are common on commercial ships and are often deemed necessary as possible defense against pirates or other threats.
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Sep 9, 2012 01:38
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Grey Skies posted:Excellent! You're seaman officer branch on a warship? You can go through AMC to get your second mate's ticket (or Diploma in Applied Science, Deck Watchkeeping as they insist on calling it). Requirements from AMSA's point of view are found here. As for jobs, apply directly to prospective employers, we don't do the USA apply via your union thing over here. The offshore is settling down a bit at the moment, but apply with the offshore operators and the few bluewater employers anyway.
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Nov 14, 2012 13:48
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Looks like someone else is on a ship built by STX/OSV. Love those Stress Less chairs. Our wheelhouse is full of them.
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Apr 5, 2013 03:53
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I know what I'm doing until lunch
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May 25, 2013 00:31
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Welp, poor English aside I think I can get a pretty good picture of what happened from that report  I was withholding judgment on the ship's master, but it looks like he comprehensively hosed up at pretty well every stage of the whole incident, and got some people killed as a result. I'd say he should never go to sea again and should go to jail for a while, but that's for the courts to decide. Stupid, arse-covering, cowardly dunce of an old man. Trying to cover up the grounding, turning down help, "co-ordinating the rescue from ashore" after "falling into a lifeboat". Some of the other officers should probably have their tickets suspended, though it looks like the engineers did their jobs well enough, at least. I mean, once you have gone aground you sound the muster and start checking for damage. Once the engineers tell you that at least four compartments are flooding, you abandon ship. You don't lie to the shore authorities and your DPA and tell them it's just a blackout.
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May 25, 2013 03:18
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Australia is investigating opening a second register for Australian-flagged vessels to trade internationally, the tax and manning requirements would be different to the current system where you can have non-Australian crew, but they get paid in accordance with Australian EBAs (Enterprise Bargaining Agreements). I think Australia needs to go to a system with Australian officers and engineers but foreign crew. Our I.R.s (equivalent to ABs) are ridiculously uncompetitive.
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May 31, 2013 22:43
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Sludge Tank posted:I am an Australian seafarer (IR, A/B, Greaser etc) and have been doing some Antarctic work of late. Do your understudy, if you have the means. Where Pioneer went, others will follow.
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Sep 11, 2013 12:49
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X-Bows make for weird looking ships.
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Jan 7, 2014 10:34
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pazrs posted:My nav arc professor hated them with a passion. He was much more fond of the Damen axe bow. Pneumatic line throwers are your friend. Except when I operate it and land the monkey's fist in a crane. Every time.
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Jan 11, 2014 13:13
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Sludge Tank posted:ah. Schmozzle doesn't strike me as a goon. As for your earlier question; yeah 24 months sea time plus TAGS books, good luck getting anyone to pay for your college time, there's a surplus of junior mates. You might be able to get some money back out of a company who picks you up while you're at college. I knew a Teekay I.R. who paid his own way through second mates, at the end his former employer (Teekay) offered him $5000 or something like it to sign back up. Didn't recoup his costs, but meh. College is probably back up to nine months, with many of the modules being useless. Contact AMC or Newcastle. *EDIT* About to head into the Southern Ocean with ROVs and "pinger detectors" aboard. We're hunting black boxes.
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Mar 26, 2014 03:42
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pazrs posted:O.P.? Say Hi to them, it's good to have the Shield doing something.
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Mar 26, 2014 06:35
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Two Finger posted:Yeah, I was trying to get into the aussie offshore industry. I started trying right as the oil price crashed. Oh well, I'm working on the ferries at the moment earning comparable money to my last job and I'm home every night. I call that a win. Is that the Sydney ferries? Do you have to sign up with the MUA instead of the AIMPE for that?
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Jan 20, 2015 09:36
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Which ferries? Cook Strait, or does Auckland have a service?
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Jan 21, 2015 10:31
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Nice, I'm about to start a six month shore secondment. I'll be getting tanker second mate wages to work 9-5 Monday to Friday in Melbourne. It's not my home port and the company apparently can't afford to pay my food and accommodation, so I'll be out of pocket, but I'm really looking forward to the change. Melbourne is one of my favourite cities. Great food, lots to do. poo poo weather. Looking for a studio apartment around the CBD.
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Jan 21, 2015 11:00
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Are you with TOLL or the SPOTs?
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Jan 22, 2015 00:28
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shovelbum posted:If the engineer has the day off sick who will make load plans, drag hoses, ballast the boat, circulate mud, or work on deck I mean come on. What?
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Jan 26, 2015 12:57
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That said, there are ways to get caught out with a crude cargo. Letting a waxy crude cool down (insufficient heating applied to cargo that needs it) can be a disaster. We had a first mate in our company who took a cargo of high paraffin crude and didn't flush the bottom lines after loading. Bam, solidified cargo in the bottom lines. The man was an idiot.
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Jan 28, 2015 10:23
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Do a double header.
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Jan 29, 2015 08:35
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Two Finger posted:I'm interviewing for a trawler job next week. On the one hand fishing vessel, southern ocean. Two Finger posted:On the one hand fishing vessel, southern ocean.
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Jan 29, 2015 13:04
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Am I the only one here who likes going to sea? Admittedly I'm working ashore right now (it's been nearly a week in my office job, so far it's interesting), and also admittedly there might not be any coastal trading ship to go back to in a years time. But I do like ships and would like to go back out on a nice one.
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Feb 5, 2015 10:56
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pazrs posted:Still love it. Every few days on board I just stand on the bridge wing coffee in hand and think 'gently caress yes. This is for me.' Yeah, this. I very, very rarely have moments where I actually hate my job (and it's usually me hating my current shipmates if so) and fairly often have moments of "I can't believe I'm getting paid this much to do this." And standing on the bridge wing while steaming through the Great Barrier Reef at sunset is just nice. Then again, if I were downstairs taking the same LO purifier apart for the fourth time this swing I might be hating life. Deck guys, we ticked the right box (even if our qualification are borderline useless ashore)!
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Feb 8, 2015 22:41
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Accepted voluntary redundancy after the second-to-last Australian manned product tanker was pulled off the coast. Redundancy payment went through yesterday, is not small. Think I'll go back to uni.
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Sep 20, 2015 10:02
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I'll keep my tickets current, but I think I'd rather leave now when I'm still in my early thirties with no dependents and re-train rather than stick it our until there's nothing left. It's been a good job, same employer for over a decade, lots of money saved. Also I never wanted to go to sea forever so this is not a bad thing for me.
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Sep 20, 2015 10:17
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shovelbum posted:What's the real reason Jones Act tonnage is so expensive? American yards shouldn't be several times pricier than other first world yards but here we are. I was in a Norwegian yard to pick up a newbuild in 2012; most of the labourers were Polish or Romanian, and the hull was assembled in Romania before being transferred to the yard in Norway by sea. I'm guessing the foreign workers were only there because they're cheaper than Norwegians, and provided they're trained and supervised the results are still excellent (that was a great ship). Would US shipyards be allowed to use cheaper, foreign labour? How about a hull that was laid down in Mexico before being brought north for fitting out and painting?
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Oct 10, 2015 11:15
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