US Ship Crew

[Guest]

With the almost seemingly constant changes in employment opportunities on US flagged Great Lakes vessels what is the current status of people working this boat in terms of age groups? Does the shipping industry have a hard time recruiting younger people? If so, what does the future hold for this job sector? When I first came out of high school back 35 years ago there were virtually no realistic prospects of working on the lakes with many positions filled by crew members with excessive years of seniority. This changed what I had intended to do as a career as even representatives at SIU offered little hope of future employment on the lakes. Is that the current situation as well? It just seems like that there are a lot more people interested in the Great Lakes shipping industry as a hobby rather than a career path.