by GuestfromEU » November 29, 2022, 12:33 pm
There is no compulsory retirement age for USA mariners and it appears Canada is similar. Company-required physicals often doom people. Some USA shipping companies outsource this to a company called Andersen Kelley and they are notorious for denying a prospective or existing employee a fit-for-duty certificate for minor issues. This is not limited to older persons, people of all age and physical health are frequently confronted with minor issues or even misinterpretations that affect their ability to work. A good friend was declared not fit for duty because of colourblindness. He is an engineer and can see the required red, green, blue and yellow but cannot pass the book with the coloured dots and numbers. That is acceptable to the USCG but Andersen Kelley denied it, even after being presented with the CFR stating acceptability. Some months passed before he was finally given approval. The waiting time was uncompensated.
Another recent factor is adjustment of officer pensions. Previously it was possible to work 20 years and retire with a monthly pension for officers with AMO, or work longer and receive a lump-sum buyout, but that changed around 2009 when the pension plan went bust. A lot of people with less than 20 years with the union lost out and had to work longer. Further recent changes set new pension contributions for members in the union at a paltry 1% average and this does not significantly increase until year 10. The mindset is to encourage people to make a career at sea by trapping them, but it had the reverse effect of discouraging new members from joining due to the measly pension contributions. And employed younger members are leaving for better shore jobs (at similar salaries). Unlicensed salaries are not breaking any records and pensions are not stellar either. MEBA covers the Interlake officers but I do not know details of their retirement scheme.
The oldest Chief Engineer I worked with was 72. I worked with a Master about the same age too. Now it is more common to see age ranges of 20-40 on many ocean ships. Of the ships I manage, the Ukrainian and Indian Masters and CENG's have an average age 35, plus or minus. Most are overdue for sign off because of lack of qualified reliefs.
There is no compulsory retirement age for USA mariners and it appears Canada is similar. Company-required physicals often doom people. Some USA shipping companies outsource this to a company called Andersen Kelley and they are notorious for denying a prospective or existing employee a fit-for-duty certificate for minor issues. This is not limited to older persons, people of all age and physical health are frequently confronted with minor issues or even misinterpretations that affect their ability to work. A good friend was declared not fit for duty because of colourblindness. He is an engineer and can see the required red, green, blue and yellow but cannot pass the book with the coloured dots and numbers. That is acceptable to the USCG but Andersen Kelley denied it, even after being presented with the CFR stating acceptability. Some months passed before he was finally given approval. The waiting time was uncompensated.
Another recent factor is adjustment of officer pensions. Previously it was possible to work 20 years and retire with a monthly pension for officers with AMO, or work longer and receive a lump-sum buyout, but that changed around 2009 when the pension plan went bust. A lot of people with less than 20 years with the union lost out and had to work longer. Further recent changes set new pension contributions for members in the union at a paltry 1% average and this does not significantly increase until year 10. The mindset is to encourage people to make a career at sea by trapping them, but it had the reverse effect of discouraging new members from joining due to the measly pension contributions. And employed younger members are leaving for better shore jobs (at similar salaries). Unlicensed salaries are not breaking any records and pensions are not stellar either. MEBA covers the Interlake officers but I do not know details of their retirement scheme.
The oldest Chief Engineer I worked with was 72. I worked with a Master about the same age too. Now it is more common to see age ranges of 20-40 on many ocean ships. Of the ships I manage, the Ukrainian and Indian Masters and CENG's have an average age 35, plus or minus. Most are overdue for sign off because of lack of qualified reliefs.