The success of AMO’s program will ultimately be decided by these individuals [the captains or PICs] and the level of risk they are willing to be accountable for. -The Maritime Site
This evening I came across an interesting article on gCaptain announcing that the American Maritime Officer’s Union (AMO) would begin crewing drillships operating in the US Gulf of Mexico.
This move is deemed necessary by the industry as there is a severe shortage of qualified senior deck and engineering officers in the market to support the expanding worldwide fleet of dynamically positioned mobile offshore drilling units.
Adding further pressure to the offshore labor pool was the Marshall Island’s decision to enhance the Minimum Safe Manning Requirements for most (if not all) of the drillships currently registered under their flag (Transocean alone has at least 6 drillships registered to the Marshall Islands).
Under new Marshall Island Minimum Safe Manning Certificate requirements effective February of 2011, most drillships are now REQUIRED to have an unlimited chief engineer and 1st assistant engineer at all times. While this seems only natural (after all, we are talking about 800′ + ships here), in the past such vessels (drillships and self-propelled semi-submersibles) were able to operate having only one “Maintenance Supervisor” (equivalent to a USCG Chief MODU license) and one “Assistant Maintenance Supervisor” (both of which are significantly less difficult licenses to obtain than an unlimited assistant engineer’s license of any grade).
Curious, I read the entire press release from the AMO to learn more about the AMO’s new arrangement with the vessel crewing and manning agency PRONAV Offshore Services, LLC.
It appears that these assignments are not “permanent” positions on board drillships. Instead they are temporary “fill-in” assignments of 21 days (plus 1 day of travel) to cover for shortages among regular crew members who are on medical leave, vacation, receiving training, etc.
Under current labor shortage conditions, there is a high probability that drilling contractors will need to have a “qualified” pool of licensed deck and engine officers on standby to fill any gaps in the manning requirements of vessels within their fleets. In this day and age, the Marshall Islands, Liberia, Vanuatu, and other “flags of convenience” have no issues at all with shutting a drillship down and forcing them to anchor in shallow water if the Minimum Safe Manning Requirements are not being properly met.
Will AMO’s move offshore work?
When it comes to actual “offshore” experience (of which most AMO members have none), in the eyes of both the flag state and the USCG, it doesn’t matter…so long as the mariner possesses a valid license for the position he or she is filling on board a self-propelled MODU (captain, chief engineer, first mate, first assistant engineer, etc.), the fact that the individual is actually “competent” and “capable” to respond to the myriad complexities of a modern offshore drilling unit (for which they have not been adequately measured under the USCG’s current licensing exam schedule) is of little concern.
The real burden lies with the veteran captains who are the “persons in charge” (PIC) of the drillships and semi-submersibles that accept these individuals onboard their ships to serve in senior management positions with little or no offshore experience. The success of AMO’s program will ultimately be decided by these individuals [the captains or PICs] and the level of risk they are willing to be accountable for.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Agreed that it is a laudable goal to have well qualified “competent and capable” personnel, but based on DWH catastrophe “actual offshore experience” didn’t seem to do much good responding to “the myriad complexities”…
Thank you for the comment and your insight! I think you and I could both agree that there is absolutely no one in the World who would have been able to “respond” to the DWH incident with any better outcome (regardless or license, education, training, and most certainly union affiliation).
By “the myriad complexities” I’m refering more to the specific day-to-day considerations “experienced offshore mariners” must contend with that don’t necessarily tranlate over from the operation of traditional ships (dynamic positioning, well control and drilling equipment maintenance and class requirements, operational considerations regarding power management issues, etc.).
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that folks sailing out of the “hall” (or anyone sailing on “traditional ships) can learn these skills, and in many cases learn them faster than any other group of potential offshore workers. The issue will be when they come out for their first few 21 day “temp” jobs in which they’ll need to embrace the “learning curve”.
Looking at this situation another way, what would you think if a drillship captain were to start doing relief work on a conventional ship as captain or chief mate (it probably wouldn’t give you warm fuzzy feelings at night if the ship was transiting through highly congested waters on a foggy night)? The captain might be “competant” and “capable” (after all, he does have the license), but does he have enough “experience” to navigate the ship through the area as safely and confidently as a more experienced “convential captain” may… when most of his “sea-time” has been spent hovering over a hole in the ground?
I have been a member of AMO for seven years and am not at all surprised by this move. Under the newly reaffirmed president/longtime executive board member AMO has been very active in pursuing non traditional work for it’s members. Given the reportedly insolvent state of our retirement fund, the cessation of a defined benefit plan and the stagnation of many contracts including my own AMO definitely needs a new approach to finding jobs in today’s market. Unfortunately when the nature of the work is on a temporary basis it does little for the greater good of the organization at a time when what this or any union needs is sustainable long term relationships with employers.
Furthermore as a deep sea sailing Chief Mate having worked on Roll on Roll Off vessels for the last seven years I am not at all comfortable with the idea of stepping onto the floor of a drill ship and being expected to perform for a three week stint while the non union guy or gal I just relieved is whisked ashore unexpectedly for some family emergency.
I equate this to the idea of night mating which for any AMO member is as foreign a concept as a union backing a members unemployment claim or using an accountable system to assign jobs off the board. It would be extremely uncomfortable for myself as a senior officer to go ashore for a few hours or even to sleep leaving the cargo watch in the hands of a night mate whom I have never worked with before. While this might be suitable for a container ship it would be unacceptable onboard any tanker or RoRo I have worked on.
Shipping is a very industry specific occupation and despite the union’s best efforts to treat mariners as a standard commodity we are certainly not standardized professionals. Our skills and abilities are directly related to the types of ships, cargoes and power plants we have worked with in the past and while usually willing and able to learn new systems and methods doing so on a temporary three week basis seems absurd with the technicalities of the Oil and Gas industry and Dynamic Positioning of which only a handful of AMO members have been exposed to. Then again that’s all this will probably turn into, a handful of temporary jobs.
Thank you for your candidness Jeff! I agree, as captain on a drillship, I would be equally uneasy assuming a senior management position on a more “traditional” ship such as a RO-RO, container, tanker, etc.
You make an extremely good point about the “specialties” of various mates and engineers working in the industry. I equate it to the various specialties among medical doctors (oncologist, gynecologists, radiologists, neurologists, pediatricians, etc.).
I think a lot of people on both sides of the offshore/maritime segments have too much pride to respect the respective skills of the other side.
Jeff,
I read your comments with curiosity. I too am an AMO member. Quite a bit longer than the seven years you have been. The article was about jobs in the offshore industry and you take several cheap shots at AMO in areas that have nothing to do with the subject.
You complain that this potential work in the offshore industry is no good because it is temporary. To me it is an opportunity. I expect to others it is viewed as an opportunity also.
An insolvent pension plan? Take a look at what is happening or happened to almost every defined benefit plan in the country. It was time to move to a DC plan. The market crash of 2008 just pushed it.
You are not comfortable stepping onto the deck of a drillship. Well, DO NOT APPLY! I read the article in AMO Currents. Only interested parties were instructed to submit resumes.
Night mating being a foreign concept? I have night mated for several different AMO companies in several different ports over my career. Night mates, extra mates, whatever you want to call them, many AMO members have been able to earn pretty good money over the years. This work has been on tankers and ro ro’s. I made it a point to ensure the company and the senior officers were comfortable with my watchstanding by doing observing stints first. Yeah, there was a steep learning curve, but that is an officer does, be professional.
Do you have any work experience on dril ships or in the offshore field? Do you know what a DP officer does?
Before you pooh pooh the concept of bringing AMO officers out in the offshore industry, why don’t you let those interested in going forward with the opportunity work out the finer details.
Thanks for the comment Henry, you’re insights and experiences are greatly appreciated.
There is very little “sailing” involved when on a drill ship, and “traditional sailing” goes out the window once the “Present Position” button is double tapped on the DP console. Holes in manning requirements could be filled by other means (C-Mar for example) without getting the AMO involved.
That is precisely the point “Me”. “Traditional sailing” DOES go out the window once the present position button is pressed, which is exactly why “traditional sailors” would be challenged to work (in the capacity of a senior manager) on a ship that wasn’t “traditionally sailed” without an appropriate familiarization period. It would be the same argument if the AMO all of a sudden started crewing their contract ships with senior officers from the drillships.
The “hyper-specialization” of the maritime industry is a fact of life, it’s not a matter of union vs non-union, and it’s a matter of what type of vessel(s) you “specialize” in.
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