New merchant mariner looking for advise

[Nate28]

Greetings all. I recently left the military and received my 500 ton Masters ocean and AB Unlimited License. I have been trying to land a AB job in the tug industry on the east coast. It has been pretty slow going. A couple of companies have contacted me back saying they are setting me up for a review but that's about it. If anyone out there has any leads or advise to help me get a foot in the door it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Nate

[water]

If you decide to expand your search into the Gulf, check on Crosby, out of Golden Meadow, LA. They have 80+ tugs, and a Crosby employee told me things were slow for awhile, but have been picking up since spring.

http://www.crosbytugs.com/

[AB Murph]

I'm not sure you are set on tugs or not and where you live. If you live down south I would come down and spend two days hitting the companies down here that require AB'S. Being X military and already having a 500 tons Masters ocean you most likely will get sccoped up just so another company doesn't get you, plus you could take a little vacation in the Big Easy. Some of of the ones I would swing into and fill out an app is, Chouest, GOL, Abbadon Carisle (sp?), Gulfmark, Harvey (Tugs) , H.O.S. and Otto Candies. There are more companies but these are the ones in the area that I can think of and has 500 ton boats and larger. They also have smaller boats but I'm sure you will want to go up. Aries Marine is another but they are in Layfette.

COME DOWN AND TRY TO TALK TO THEM IN PERSON. Filling an app out on line doesn't work well from my experience, maybe two or three years ago online apps might have worked but now they can choose who they want. Most of the ones I posted pay their AB Riggers around $300/day (not sure about ACO).

Also did the USCG give you credit for your advance Fire fighting?

[Nate28]

Thanks for the advise. Going down south and applying in person is probably what I will have to do. The USCG didn't give me credit for my advanced firefighting, I had to retake it through a certified school. The only thing that they excepted from my 8 years of service in the Coast Guard was my sea time and time as Mate. Just getting them to accept that was a 6 month battle.

[Nate28]

I would like to thank all the mariners out there that offered advise and jobs leads. I finally landed a position with Dann towing on one of their vessels down in the Gulf. I am really looking forward to getting back to work. Once again thanks.

[chgonyer]

try kirby and higman in the gulf, other than that just send lots of resumes and call them once a month. good luck brother