Hey whatsup Jeff here, today we are going to do something different
My other vlogs might seem all rainbows and sunshine
They are intended for your entertainment purposes but in this one I want to talk about the reality
and the difficulties of working at sea I want to advise people who are interested
in maritime that it’s not all that easy … by giving my personal experience
It’s not to discourage anyone from the maritime industry
in fact, I feel it’s the best possible career opportunity one can get
especially after you get a captain license you have so much options at sea or on land
So let’s dive into it Number 1 Lack of Medical Care
This one haunts me the most because I’ve had a traumatic experience with it
Even though it is mandatory for ships to carry powerful drugs that are found in hospitals
Sailors we aren’t trained to do anything more than first aid
Let me describe an incident that happened during my time as a cadet on my 2nd ship
A crew member he got very very sick when the ship was halfway between Christmas Island
and Western Australian Something to do with his pancreas or liver
we weren’t sure because we couldn’t diagnose what it was
He had to suffer 48 hours of excruciating pain before we could get our ship to a location
where the helicopters could pick him up And during that time we administrated heavy
doses of morphine to him Even with the morphine it was still unbearable,
he was PASSING out from time to time from the pain
And His whole torso was swelling Honestly we weren’t sure if he’d survive
It was a scary moment We were lucky it was near Australia, if it
was in the middle of pacific it would have taken maybe 5 or 6 days to get help
By that time, I don’t think he’d survive So my point is, on land you can get medical
help fast but at sea on the ship sometimes you won’t get help until 5 or 6 days
So in this industry so you really have to take care of yourself while working
Number 2.
Lack of diverse food The food on ship is prepared by the Cook which
we have no choice over It gets boring when you work with same cook
for 9 months After months at sea everyone starts to crave
for food from land especially Fast food or junk food
Remember the scene from Iron man where first thing he come back from captive was ordering
a burger
Once you are on the ship the desire for different
food is unreal The crew jump on food like zombies once someone
bring back something from ashore
Depending on your luck, most cooks at sea aren’t the best cook either, so don’t
get too high of an expectation
Number 3 Politics & conflicts When you have 20 people living in one confined
ship, it’s impossible to stay away from professional or personal conflicts on board
It makes it difficult to work and socialize Not to mention It’s a very thin line between
professional and personal life on the ship since your co-workers literally lives in the
next cabin On top of that…
Cultural awareness and equality is actually very behind compared to land base organizations
Sailors we aren’t educated or trained in organizational behaviors
The leaders, Officers Captains, Chiefs, they are promoted based on skills not leadership
And to complicate things even more You have got people from different countries,
different education, different personality, age, sex and religion all living together
in the same ship With so much diversity, conflicts are bound
to happen Ultimately to do well at sea, you’d have
to be aware of cultural differences maintain an open mind
and be able to take shit from your leaders
Number 4.
Unsettled Lifestyle & Short Shore leave Having a traveling or “nomadic” kind of
lifestyle there’s a certain romance about it, you
know… explore the world while getting paid meeting different people and sightseeing
commanding large ships across the oceans The thing about traveling to places though
is that compare to the past we have much faster turnaround time
And that means less time go ashore And between work and rest
sometimes you just can’t afford the time or too tiring to go out
A side note…
VLCCs and large capacity ships don’t even come to the port for discharging or loading
they do all that at a remote facility so you can’ go anywhere
Jumping back a bit After years at sea, you’ll miss the stationary
lifestyle A town or city in which you can “ground
yourself” For example, myself.
I can’t even get a gym membership at where I live because is a 6-month contract
It’s not worth it when I am only 2 or 3 months at home on my holiday
You start to wonder …When you spend more time on ship than at home, is home really
what you call home?
Number 5.
Lack of Social Life We all grew up in a social environment, it’s
how humans were meant to live So when staying months on ship with restricted
social life negative effects such as depression, loneliness,
and homesickness start kicking in As time passes a sense of emptiness starts
creeping in, eventually you feel miserable You see the same people at work or off-work
every day you might or might not like them but you have
no choice you are stuck on a ship Depending on your personality and attitude
Some might not be able to stand it For Myself, I took advantage of this solitude
and focus more on building myself, on my work, video editing and exercise
So a lack of social life is not necessarily a bad thing
Number 6.
Away from the Family and everything Although most can digest the fact of away
from friends parting away from family for months is what
tears their hearts apart marriage or parenthood, missing those precious
moments with their loved ones for whom they care the most
is what pain sailors to the core On top of that, not being there for personal
and family problems put a person in a constant state of worry
which increases stress and affects the work You are physically on the ship but mentally
you are back at home And that could endanger yourself or others
at work A co-worker of mine his father passed away
when the ship was in the middle of Pacific Ocean
he didn’t’ know about it until we reached America
and the funeral was planned at a time when he couldn’t sign off
Greeting him every day in the hallway, he had to put up an uneasy smile
but you could sense the despair depression and sadness within him, consuming him
And that affects the whole ship, as a co-worker as a friend you get affected too
So that’s always a burden sailors will have to endure
Number 7.
Pay and Benefits There are crew members onboard my ship right
now that are stuck working at sea for years because they can’t find a better job
There’s multiple reason for that, other jobs don’t pay as well, they have mortgage,
loans, their kids, their education expenses etc.
Back when my father sailed 30 years ago he was making almost same amount in the early
80s compare to now But think about the inflation for a second
Merchant Mariners used to sail for 10-20 years and retire easily with nice house & money
in the bank It was a fair trade of time and lifestyle
Now days.
Prices have been inflated so much You can no longer retire after 20 years
so it’s extremely hard to JUSTIFY or RATIONALIZE the time spent at sea into your 60
My advice is to plan ahead and ask yourself Where you want to be 10, 20 or 40 years later
Number 8.
Reducing crew members or reduce manning 20 years ago, a 200-meter will have 40-50
people working onboard And Nowadays a 400m ship only have 20 people
With the economy slowing down Companies they want to cut cost, cut manning
while demanding us to be just as efficient Needless to say ships are getting bigger
There’s more work more responsibility more overtime for each crew
No one cares about us, they only care about the oil being delivered on time
The iPhone or shipments arriving before the holiday sales so that they can make money
It’s not improving anytime soon
Number 9.
Hectic Life & Work Every year new regulations come into
sailors we have to fetch out money for endorsement on new certificates, new license
more paperwork, more checklist, new codes, new safety procedures, new environmental laws
Combine with reduce manning, it is quite overloading And it’s becoming more hectic every year
We are paying to get certified for what we’ve been doing for hundreds of years
It almost like the government or marine schools are milking us for money
There’s no end to that
Last one is Limited entertainment, especially Internet
You have to ask yourself, can you live without internet for a month?
Some of my classmates they quit after their first ship because they just can’t take
the boredom Some people are so accustomed to internet
they cannot live without it and you have to figure if that’s the case
for you Ultimately it’s how you personally embrace
it you could turn the situation on its head and
use it as an opportunity to build yourself to accomplish things
So these are the 10 reasons why maritime sucks Some might not be negative at all it depends
on you, how you approach it and external factors such as your company,
your ship, the country you’re from, inflation etc
I’ve only given you a heads up and ultimately you’ll have to discover if maritime is suitable
for you Ending the vlog here, if you got any questions
leave it down in the comments below and for sailors who have internet access right
now please try and help out to answer some of the questions
With YouTube as a platform, I hope to build an audience base that connect sailors around
the world online for sharing information and discussion
So thank you for your support and see you next time 