Manning Question

[Ducki52]

How does the crewing for ships work when qualified? Does each vessel have a 'port' and 'starboard' crew who take it in turns or are you just sent to whatever ship you are needed on and the crew is formed specifically for thay voyage/tour and then broken down on sign off?

Thanks,

Ducki52

[Chiefy]

It depends........which is a good answer for most questions here

We'll assume you are going container / cruise / bulker etc initially......
the crews are changed on a rolling basis, with most people not seeing each other for quite long periods between assignments, so you join for 4 months, and relive A N Other who just finished his 4 months, then in say a month or 2 the 3rd is relived and a new 1 joins for 4 months, you go home after your 4 months take your leave and are re-assigend to your next ship.....it is possible you will relieve the same bloke for a few trips depends on fleet size etc. The top 2 (and possibly top4) may well be on 1:1 so they are coming and going and sailing with one another on a regular basis and reliveing each other and staying with the same ship for a few years. This is all confused by having multi-national crews who have dfferent contracts and therefore trip lengths, but you get the idea....

Now if you go off shore with the PSV's AHTS's etc THEN you may well be straight on to 1:1 meaning you will find a slot on a team and sail with the same people on the same ship doing 28:28 days on / off OR 35:35 OR x depending on where in the world and any local regs etc.......

So there you have it...it depends on company, ship and rank

[Randomist]

As Chiefy says, it's entirely dependant on what company you're working for.

I know of a company that always has half of the crews at sea and half on leave and they rotate them round accordingly. Some companies, especially those with large fleets of ships can send you wherever you're needed.

[GuinnessMan]

Our fleet is mahoosive, in fact we have about 6 fleets in our office alone. What we try to do is keep the same folks within the same fleets and with the same Owner's, especially when it comes to the senior officers (the Owner's normally want to approve who they're paying to be in charge of their investments).

For instance, if we have three vessels of a similar type, then we will have four crews to run a rotation and normally they will all move from vessel to vessel...

[Ducki52]

Ye gods, I think I'll just leave manning to the HR gurus and go where Im told...