Yes. When USCG rolled out Subchapter M and increased demand, one solution would have been for companies to hire three years previously people that they did not need and find a way to get them the necessary seatime. Maybe they could have installed more bunks on the boats.
> Although the Coast Guard released Subchapter M on July 20, 2016, vessels had two years to meet the majority of the requirements — the deadline falling on July 20, 2018. The Coast Guard is trying to work with the tug and towing companies to make for a smooth transition into the new regulations with minimal downtime. The entirety of the law will be phased in over a six-year period.
> The next deadline for obtaining a certificate of inspection (COI) is in 2019. By July 22nd, 25 percent of towing and tugboat companies’ vessels must have a COI onboard. The percentage increases by 25 percent each year after until all vessels in the fleet have their COI onboard.
I wrote that three years is theoretically the fastest one could get enough seatime. This would mean three years constantly at sea. Most take at least double that.
So that means that there should be new captains entering the workforce right around now (7 years post-fact, nevermind that the rules were probably not just sprung on you in 2016 but there was some forewarning even before then.)
Yes, my company could have hired unlicensed deckhands that they did not need then and invested in them in the hopes that they would become captains later. I don’t know what boats they would have found to fit them onto at the time. It is a shame smart people were not around to advise.
I have done quite a lot to entice potential captains to join us over the last 3 years. Very few potential candidates are excited about the lifestyle, especially during the time when ZIRP was funding companies doing nothing.
But you did need them, as evidenced by the fact that now you're having trouble finding captains. You needed them then so they could be trained to be captains now. Yeah, training and growing people is an investment. Yeah, it doesn't always pay off. But you don't get to complain when you didn't invest that you didn't reap the rewards of your nonexistent investment.
> I have done quite a lot to entice potential captains to join us over the last 3 years. Very few potential candidates are excited about the lifestyle, especially during the time when ZIRP was funding companies doing nothing.
And as some others have asked you, what are you offering a starting deckhand? Give us at least a range for pay.
I am not "complaining". I recognize the reality of the situation. This is why I am selling the company and reallocating the capital.
I have been running the company for three years. Yes, my predecessor could have invested more earlier. All of the tugboat companies in our cohort could have invested more earlier. They could have raised prices so that they could attract more people. I agree that the industry and the government made bad choices in the past that lead to a shortage now.
The path from deckhand to licensed captain requires seatime. We have a fleet of four tugs. Even if we had been able to invest in the deckhands, where would we have put them? Each tug has a finite number of men it can carry, limited by physical space, supplies, and regulation.
I answered about pay rate elsewhere in the thread. I will try to add more details about the various labor categories.
Perhaps after you wind down the tugboat thing, you can open a consultancy to explain, based on simple anecdotes about your experience, why people’s dogma is often ridiculously wrong.
No, that will never work. But I bet you will be successful in some field where patience is a virtue.
