By Willie Barrere
National President
It is not news to say there is a nationwide shortage of qualified professionals in many areas of employment, and our industry has been hit particularly hard. AMO members are living through it and the consequences are known. I’d like to put forth some thoughts about how we got here and what we’ve been working on to rectify this situation.
In the last six months, I have met with the superintendents of every maritime academy – most recently with the new superintendent at SUNY Maritime. There is a lot of insight and information to share about the root causes of this problem.
Generally speaking, the U.S. population is slightly increasing despite 76,000 fewer babies born last year than were in the year before. Data shows the under-18 population has been declining. This means fewer people starting trades, going to colleges, or entering the workforce.
The number of U.S. Coast Guard licensed deck and engine officers graduating from our seven maritime academies, including USMMA, is down significantly since 2015. In terms of enrollment overall, the state maritime academies collectively have documented a decline of approximately 35% in enrollment since 2015.
Generally and historically, a maritime academy will lose 30% of initial enrollment to attrition, but that trend has been consistent since prior to 2015 so it is not really considered a contributing factor in these statistics.
While I was in school in the early 1980s, and it’s probably not a stretch to say this is an experience shared by many of us, there were far more graduates and officers than sailing jobs. Just few years ago I was helping newly graduated Third Mates get billets to sail as ABs with the SIU just to get new officers started with employment in our industry and to help the SIU with their shortage of qualified members in that department. In order to keep the ship moving, the Global Sentinel sailed with up to nine Kings Pointers as ABs because they held security clearances and they were needed.
The decline in academy enrollment started before COVID but it is easy to see, both statistically and from restricted-to-ship experiences, how that period of our industry’s recent past contributed to it. A less obvious factor was the institutional need of academies to maintain job placement success for their students in a shrinking job market for ship officers in that period of time.
With the job shortage, maritime academies retooled and introduced degree programs without a license track, such as oceanography, marine biology, shore systems engineering, and other degree options that did not produce officers for ships. This kept job placement at high levels for their students but contributed to a downward trend in graduates with licenses. The academies are retooling now for a stronger seagoing job market, but that will take time.
Also, at some point in the not too distant past, academies started charging students for the sea term – A cost that can exceed $50,000 total over four years – to offset the school ship expenses that MARAD does not cover. MARAD proudly states they cover the cost of school ship fuel and they also have a student incentive program where students who enroll in the Strategic Sealift program can receive $64,000 towards student loans in exchange for a Naval Reserve commitment. There is limited financial assistance and scholarship money available for those who do not enroll in the program.
A few of the academies are still struggling with enrollment while a few others have revamped their recruiting efforts and are growing their license-track programs. SUNY Maritime and Mass Maritime are leading the pack with far more license-track students coming in this year than last year, but the results of this increase won’t be seen for another four or more years.
The academies’ output is our input and recruiting there remains the most efficient and cost-effective method for bringing new officers into the union. But, given the situation that has developed in recent years, AMO has expanded our recruiting focus in other directions. We’ve talked about some of these, and for others, we are just this year establishing a presence.
AMO is now going into high schools and middle schools to raise awareness about the maritime industry. In addition to individual schools and ship tours, we’re also taking a broad approach in order to educate high school career counselors about opportunities in the Merchant Marine. This year, we were the only officers’ union with a booth at the American School Counselors Association (ASCA) annual conference in Missouri. The SIU was there with us and together we had lots of interest with a new-to-them career opportunity for students.
These efforts have already been met with positive feedback and excitement as several nationwide organizations have reached out to AMO about participating in career fairs to promote maritime. One of the largest organizations, the ASCA (with 43,000 guidance counselors as members) is excited about collaborating with AMO and the maritime industry for the next annual conference in California. This opportunity was discussed with the new Commander of TRANSCOM, Gen. Randall Reed, in St. Louis last week and is gaining support with our companies, as well as with MSC and MARAD.
While the fruits of these efforts may not manifest for years, bringing this information to more young Americans can be a starting point for reversing a downward trend. A solid six-figure income with six months of vacation each year is very attractive, and in some cases unheard of, among many high schoolers trying to choose a next step.
These initiatives are positive and necessary, but they are also a bit of the long game. Closer to home, AMO remains the only union with a program to create licensed Third Engineers in an approximately two-and-one-half year timeframe. The Engineering Candidate Hawsepipe (TECH) Program is running full-time at STAR Center and onboard AMO-contracted vessels, as the Apprentice Engineers receive the training and earn the sea time to sit for their license exams.
AMO is also the only officers’ union with an accelerated Officer in Charge of an Engineering Watch (OICEW) program, which runs 17 weeks (seven weeks shorter than the U.S. Coast Guard standard requirement). Through this STAR Center program, officers with or preparing to sit for a national license earn the STCW endorsement to sail deep sea with AMO.
Between the OICEW and TECH Programs, STAR Center and AMO are creating more unlimited Third Engineers with STCW than three of the state maritime academies. With the officer shortage showing up on our job board primarily in the junior engineer ratings, we are working to keep these programs operating at full capacity.
We are also in the early stages of setting up a form of apprenticeship program with the academies, which will bring cadets to STAR Center for specific training and an introduction to AMO as a union. We started this last winter with three cadets taking the IGF course and are working to develop it into a broader initiative.
The only unfortunate part of all this is it won’t immediately fill every open job on the board and every gapped billet on a ship. Our academy recruiting initiative, which we were finally able to develop and launch late last year after overcoming resistance and criticism from past leadership, was very successful. We have brought in about 150 new officers with more continuing to contact us, apply for membership, and join vessels every month.
What we can do now in the meantime is recruit on our own, every one of us. Talk to your classmates and friends sailing elsewhere about the opportunities at AMO. Our contracted companies are looking to expand and we can grow with them as more officers sign aboard with AMO.
Our commercial contracts and most recent government contracts have grown significantly. We have one of the best premium-free medical plans in the nation. We have the top maritime training school in the nation at STAR Center, a MARAD Center of Excellence. We don’t have union halls – members and applicants can live where they want, ship online with their phones, and not spend their own time and money traveling to and waiting in hiring halls for job calls. All of our retirement plans are self-directed and continuing to grow and improve, and they are fully portable once you are vested.
AMO – our union – is now sailing toward a brighter future and building a stronger U.S. Merchant Marine. All aboard please.