Community Discussions
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"Maritime"
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I am uncomfortable with the word "maritime." Mostly, because it doesn't have anything to do with time.
It should mean:
Military time aboard a ship
or
When your wedding happens
Thank you for coming to my rant
Top Comment: Aha! May I offer my pedantic response to your rant? It's actually from the French word "maritime" (or, originally, Latin, maritimus, "Of the sea"). Other French adjectives end in -time or -ime, for example: intime, meaning intimate. So it really doesn't have anything to do with our English word "time."
Why do the Maritime/Atlantic Provinces seem to have a perpetually bad economy? : canada
Main Post: Why do the Maritime/Atlantic Provinces seem to have a perpetually bad economy? : canada
Are You in the Shipping Industry or Just Passionate About Ships?
Main Post:
Hi everyone,
This community is incredible, —it’s amazing to see so many people sharing their passion for ships, whether it’s their design, history, operation, pictures etc. But it made me wonder:
How many of you work in the shipping industry, and how many are here purely out of passion or curiosity?
For me since the young age i have always been intrigued by such a massive object floating around the sea carrying different types of products, then i got fascinated by the destinations they reached and eventually understood that the main industry to understand the economic world is shipping, whith it u can see flows month before.. and finally i found myself working (and still active) in this incredible industry for more than a decade..
Ships play a crucial role in the global economy, yet the industry itself feels somewhat distant to most people unless you’re directly involved. From my perspective, the world of shipping often seems highly centralized and exclusive for a few key reasons:
Capital Requirements: Building and maintaining ships, especially commercial vessels, is extraordinarily expensive.
Complexity: Maritime regulations, logistics, and technical operations require expertise, making it hard for newcomers to enter the field.
Scale: Many shipping companies control massive fleets, leaving little room for smaller players.
Despite this, the love for ships spans beyond the industry itself—whether it’s an appreciation for their engineering, a passion for maritime history, or just the romance of the open sea.
My Question to the Community
Do you work in the shipping or maritime industry (e.g., logistics, shipbuilding, or crewing)?
For those who don’t, what draws you to ships? Is it just a love for their beauty and history, or something else?
Also, a follow-up question: If given the chance, would you invest in or own a part of a ship? For example, there are models of fractional ownership that let individuals own a share. Would people be interested in something like this?
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and stories!
Top Comment: There tend to be more shipping enthousiast in here than those actually in the industry. r/maritime is more people who actually are and r/merchantmarine is mainly Americans askings how they can get into shipping, hoe much they will make and how to get around the drugs screening. Im in shipping myself btw, was a Mariner on AHTS and DP offshore support vessels. Moved ashore and am currently in Shipping projects for a O&G supermajor.
Why is there such an apparent shortage in sailors these days?
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I took a "break" from 2018 until now and I remember fellow mariners constantly having to take jobs they didn't want because everything else was snapped up. Upon talking to my union guy, he says he has more jobs than he knows what to do with and is having trouble getting new sailors
I've also seen a couple of posts from last year talking about how Crowley was having trouble staffing its ATB fleet, which sounds insane to me given the kind of money they make
I know things were a bit weird during covid, but what exactly has happened in the past 5-6 years to change things up like this??
Top Comment: It’s absolutely insane how many jobs there are right now. My union board has like 100+ open Officer jobs. Yes crowley can’t crew their ATB fleet but (fuck) crowley they should be paying more across the board. Higher paying contracts like matson and APL don’t struggle for people. The amazing change is that we mariners can now be a lot more choosey and demand on what type of contracts we want. It hasn’t been this good to join the industry probably since the gulf war. Jobs aplenty.
Hows life as a marine Engineer?
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I have am in my final year of studying my mechanical engineering technology degree and I have been taking a look at marine engineering. I like mechanical but I want to be a Engineer not a technologist. Marine engineering looks cool because they don't have title politics, you get paid to travel the world, while having 0 expenses and having fun while I'm still young. I also like how it seems kind of scarce in South Africa. Are there any marine engineers with some advice?
Top Comment: “Getting paid to travel” is a farce and is no longer true. Yes you do go around the world but going out is become limited with shorter portions stays and work pressure
pls help
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Got an offer for Maritime Studies but no matter how much i search online i cannot find the career prospects for it 😫 is this some kind of insider info 🥲 Also my dad told me apparently you have to find your own clients?? But i don't even know what he's talking about And someone also told me that for some of the higher paying jobs you have to go to sea, but does that mean circling singapore or actually travelling
Sorry I'm just very very lost, can some kind senior reply to me plsplspls 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Top Comment: Currently just ended Y1 in this course! Since this degree is a pretty niche and specialised one it’s normal that there wouldn’t be much information abt it As for career prospects, majority of the graduates will go into marine & offshore, oil & gas or commodities. That isn’t to say that you can’t branch out into other industries, it just easier to go into marine. More common positions include crewing, operations, chartering, analysts in ship management companies and ports. What your dad said isn’t wrong as sourcing for clients would be more inclined to towards ship brokering. Don’t worry too much about sailing into the sea! You won’t be sailing as a crew out in the sea for extended periods of time, only certified personnel’s can do that. However, depending on your job scope, sometimes your company may ask you to go onboard for certain tasking. Dm if there are more queries!
Thinking of being a Merchant marine
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So I took a job with NCL and went to Piney point and got my TWIC and MMC. Thing is they are taking forever with the onboarding process and I am kinda sick of the hurry up and wait mentality, along with some other things .
My question is as someone who dosnt have any experience with working on ships , how hard is it to get a job as a merchant mariner ? if it helps I am a Scuba diver,
Top Comment: You might be able to find work on a research vessel with your scuba experience. I can tell you rn that finding entry level work without any experience is a bit daunting. Granted, I’m only a week into my job search, but I’ve filled out over 20 applications and have sent even more resumes to companies not listing jobs and so far the closest I’ve gotten is someone referring me to another hiring agent after accidentally CC’ing me in an email that simply said “worth a shot?” 😅