<p>just heard from our son who just found out his assignment for his first term at sea. He has heard thru the grapevine that he has northern europe. He is very excited and so are we. KP Dad. Mid Term grades are also out, fyi.</p>
<p>my boyfriend got his assignment too. He is going to be going to be going from Long beach to Hawaii and China 3 times. I'm excited cause he is going to be home for a month after grad and I wouldnt find flying to hawaii to hangout with him :)
AND his sea partner is one of his good friends; they are going to have a blast. im excited for them!</p>
<p>Just got my ship going from LA, to Hawaii, Guam, Nimbo (SP? China) then Shanghai and back to the states. 35 day Journey going to get 105 days on it. Great ship so I've heard Matson RJ Pfeiffer.</p>
<p>check out the MV RJP here:
<a href="http://www.shipphotos.co.uk/pages/rjpfeiffer.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.shipphotos.co.uk/pages/rjpfeiffer.htm</a> or here <a href="http://www.matson.com/matnav/about_us/vessel_stats.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.matson.com/matnav/about_us/vessel_stats.html</a>
for information on Matson's China-Long Beach express run go here:
<a href="http://www.matson.com/china/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.matson.com/china/index.html</a></p>
<p>what a beauty</p>
<p>I'll be rocking it on Central Gulf Lines MV Green Point. Gonna be traveling completely around the world.</p>
<p>Sounds exciting all. Good stuff. Hope everyone got their first choices of where in the world you'd like to see. </p>
<p>Hey DD1, I'm currently working on my Mom list of places for GG to stay away from in Guam. ;)</p>
<p>Jamzmom...good luck on that list...also don't forget to put down the directions to those places, so cadets know how "not" to get there.. :)</p>
<p>and if GG can't stay away from those "certain" places that Moms wouldn't approve of... always be sure to wear a "jimmy hat" ;)</p>
<p>Hard to go wrong with a MATSON ship. My biased opinion though. Parents can track Matson ships at the Matson website, <a href="http://www.matson.com/matnav/about_us/vessel_stats.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.matson.com/matnav/about_us/vessel_stats.html</a></p>
<p>:eek: Uh..... NO! LOL</p>
<p>The U.S. Merchant Marine has been in a state of decline since I graduated in 1975.. I was persistent and lucky enough to get into MM&P (deck officers union) and I didn't look back. It was difficult though.. As an applicant member I sat in the L.A. Union hall making 2 job calls a day for 9 months before I finally got an offshore job... That would have been enough to drive most kids out of the business.. I just had a burning desire to sail, raise my license and I eventually worked my way up to a Masters job.. When I first started I took anything that floated, broken down shuttle ships on the China coast run, tankers that went from East Jesus to Nowheresville , you name it, I sailed on it. It took me 15 years to finally "get the chair" over at APL.. then I had to turn around and do it all over again at MNC. I wish I could say there were plenty of jobs on deep sea American Merchant ships for everybody.. the fact is there just aren't. The competition for the jobs that are out there is keen.. so you better be ready. Maybe I’m just looking at this from an MM&P perspective.. maybe there are more jobs out there deep sea if you are willing to work MSC or AMO (MEBA district 2). But it’s no secret in the industry that the AMO wages and working conditions aren’t very good and while I hear at MSC the wages are okay, time off is hard to come by..
I don’t know much about the tanker side of the business, having been away from those ships for over 20 years.<br>
Anyway whether we are Cal Maritime, Kings Point, Mass Maritime, Maine Maritime or some other flavor maritime school, we had all better get together (parents, alums, current students) and try to influence congress to pass meaningful legislation that can help revitalize this industry. Just my 2 cents..</p>
<p>deepdraft1;
If you could make one legislative change that would improve the Maritime Industry, what would it be?</p>
<p>bring back the ODS (operating-differential subsidy) like we had it when I got out of school..</p>
<p>sounds like a union man to me</p>
<p>damn right I'm a union man.. and proud of it. You may want to educate yourself about the history of the maritime labor movement in the U.S. by reading the following books..
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Abraham-Lincoln-Sea-Andrew-Furuseth/dp/0963361104%5B/url%5D">http://www.amazon.com/Abraham-Lincoln-Sea-Andrew-Furuseth/dp/0963361104</a>
or
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0252061446/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-5747376-4619259#reader-link%5B/url%5D">http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0252061446/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-5747376-4619259#reader-link</a></p>
<p>It was Andrew Furuseth that said many years ago "You can put me in jail, but you cannot give me narrower quarters than as a seaman I have always had. You cannot give me coarser food than I have always eaten. You cannot make me lonelier than I have always been." He and the maritime labor unions are a big reason American seafarers are able to enjoy the good wages, benefits and shipboard living conditions we have today..</p>
<p>Deepdraft,</p>
<p>Any thoughts on the differences (pluses and minuses) between MEBA and AMO?</p>
<p>Also, once you become a master, do you become part of management? Is it different company by company?</p>
<p>Well, one of the big differences between MM&P (Masters, Mates and Pilots) and MEBA (Marine Engineers Beneficial Association) and the AMO is that MM&P/MEBA contracts are better. We make more money and have better work rules than our AMO counterparts.</p>
<p>Next is union leadership.. While Im not in total agreement with our union president Captain Brown he is far better than the AMOs Michael McKay. I cant speak about the MEBA leadership.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.maritimetrades.org/article.php?sid=38&s2id=42&pid=271%5B/url%5D">http://www.maritimetrades.org/article.php?sid=38&s2id=42&pid=271</a> (Captain Tim Brown)</p>
<p>As Master, I dont become part of management. However I am the direct representative of the company and as such Im responsible for managing and protecting the companys interests in all phases of vessel operations. </p>
<p>I would assume Masters and all officers are part of management at non-union companies.</p>
<p>Is it safe to assume that most management at these companies have been in unions before? If I were an investor, I would certainly want the VP of vessel operations or the person overseeing the operation of the fleet to have been a Master at one time.</p>
<p>Also, are there different types of ships that are typically union and those that aren't?</p>
<p>I know with AMO there are more jobs available then the other two unions...</p>