Military sealift command

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mmariner2185 RE:Military sealift command 2/20/2006 1:31:22 PM

Is anyone here alarmed at Arabs taking control of 6 Major U.S. Ports??? This has me SHOCKED. Why doesn't the USA want to take control of its own industry, production, and ports anymore???

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xylene RE:Military sealift command 2/20/2006 4:10:55 PM

I don't agree with this either, but we need to also look at this in context. The USA has been slowly shedding it's manufacturing, heavy industry, and shipping for over 2 decades now. This process shows no sign of abating since US banks, big business, and the politicians in their pockets care nothing for what is best for America and only seek to serve their free market religion. As this trend continues the professionals in these areas of industry will be Asian and Middle Eastern. In a few more decades you will not have an American firm that will be able to competently run a major shipping hub. This is the danger of outsourcing. Contrary to popular belief, the US and Europe are outsourcing high level professional jobs and anxious and eager foriegners are more than willing to take the opportunity. It makes me laugh to read some of the posters on this board who believe that America will be invaded and occupied. America will lose her status of most powerful nation not through military defeat but by being undermined by her own capitalist system. The current trend is unsustainable. As high level jobs go overseas , those wages are no longer serve our tax base. As US companies bail ship and go overseas those earnings no longer fit into the US tax system. The large shareholders who profit from all this die and leave their wealth to their children tax free. There will come a day we will not be able to afford being a so called superpower.

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mmariner2185 RE:Military sealift command 3/16/2006 12:27:20 PM

Great Lakes companies are offering Ordinary Seaman a mere $13 an hour..... what the hell is WRONG with the Merchant Marine today?!?!? SO FRUSTRATING TO FIND A GOOD PAYING SEA JOB

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Weasel good sea jobs 3/16/2006 1:17:53 PM

There are plenty of good jobs around. It just depends on your ticket. If you are a deck officer, then I would suggest you look at Dubai and Hong Kong Stena, Stolt, and the dutch salvage companies are great. cheers W

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mmariner2185 RE:Military sealift command 3/16/2006 6:06:32 PM

I don't think those companies hire Americans.... I sail only for the American flag

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mmariner2185 RE:Military sealift command 3/16/2006 6:08:04 PM

Besides.... it shouldn't depend on your ticket, seeing as jobs at sea tended to always make more than those on land. Everyone is on the same bucket doing time away from home... $13.81 might as well be a cashier in a supermarket when you're talking about the hazards on the Great Lakes

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Weasel jobs 3/16/2006 8:56:11 PM

"... I don't think those companies hire Americans.... I sail only for the American flag ..." That is bull It does depend on your ticket. If you have a class 1 ticket that is internationally recognized, whether you got it through Coast Guard courses or at a community college. Anyway, it all depends on what you like. For instance, if you strolled down the pier in New Orleans today you would be snapped up for any rig reconstruction work. Do you like boat handling, working with gear?,etc, etc... Plus in the Offshore biz it is easy to get an ROV certification and that is always big dollars... then go for your dynamic positioning ticket and you have a whole wealth of options. Dubai is a great place to work out of, especially if you can get one of the pilot jobs.... If you want to go deep sea I would look at Maersk, or rather one of the companies that Maersk charter.... good benefits can be found there and the reason I mention Maersk, is that you can learn a lot about the business of shipping.... The cushiest job I heard of was Submarine Cable laying for Cable and Wireless.... Most of the boats stayed alongside "on call" on full pay.. in Fiji... got to love that.... Anyway, FOC companies are always looking for a manning edge... cheap, but good quality... so that means the people you are competing against are invariably Russian or Ukranian these days... no more of this hiring 60 fillipinos to do 15 men's work sort of caper.... So you have just got to show you can do the biz better than them, right? ;) cheers W

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mmariner2185 RE:jobs 3/16/2006 11:26:36 PM

I hold an Ordinary Seaman ticket with about 200 sea days on it, experience with ATBs, harbor tugs, and one Maritime Academy training ship (did not go anywhere). The highest paying O.S. work I saw was ironically with a tiny company pushing rock barges around, and they offered $290 a day. As for Maersk, I am not an SIU union member, and don't want to go to their training program to get in. Also, I doubt the pay would be much better once turned to USD. Most of the guys I went to the Maritime College with advised strongly for us to stay away from foreign flags

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Weasel RE:jobs 3/17/2006 6:47:42 AM

OK, If you have an OS ticket, then what you need to do is add value to it...e.g. take a look at the ROV courses I mentioned as that is a good way to get extra cash. cheers W

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mmariner2185 RE:jobs 3/17/2006 7:08:28 AM

The only thing I am looking to do now.... before ANYTHING... is to turn this OS ticket into an AB, which should be a chore in itself since the USCG jacked all the requirements up....

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