Maybe This Week, Maybe Next Week

Robert Gumpert Robert Gumpert

11 November 2025

Lands End. San Francisco, California. 7 November 2025. Photo: Robert Gumpert

 

From the MMP Hiring Hall

Justin Storrs, 25.  3rd Mate
MM&P Hiring Hall - Oakland, California
03 October 2025

I am an officer so, I sail on any ship that will have me - container ships, Ro-Ros (roll-on/roll off) - I navigate, I work cargo, and when I’m not doing that I usually just work in the port.  Just doing temporary stuff called night-mating, which is really fun.

[Night-mating is when] the ships come in that are part of our union and the guys want to get off and go home, see their families, get a drink, run errands.  So, it’s a way for us, as a union, to take care of them. And take care of the watch. And make sure the ship is still safe.  We take over the ship. We manage the cargo, and the lines so the guys can relax for the night.  You’re releasing the watch, but you’re not sailing with the ship.

..

This last ship I was on I got a lot of shore time.  It was a different type of ship, we weren’t moving any cargo.  We were there for the military, and we were basically a floating warehouse in Busan (Korea).

I got off the ship every single day, and I was like a local, off the ship for like 5 to 6 hours a day.

But, on my other ships I barely got off.  I wouldn’t get off the ships for months because I was tired, and I was working the midnight to 4 shift and there was no time.  And there was COVID, so…

..

[On a 1000 foot container, the crew is] like 20 people.  Three departments - you got the Steward’s department, the Engine department, and the Deck department.

The Steward’s department is in charge of your room - linens and stuff - food, making sure there’s enough provision for the ship wherever they’re going.

The Engine department is in charge of machinery - the main engine, the generators, the boilers, the bow thrust, anything [related].

The Deck department is responsible for cargo, navigation, and safety equipment

..

[The Chief Steward] is really important [for ship moral].  If you don’t have a good cook then I’m eating rice for the rest of my time.

I’ve been in mess decks, or the galley, where it’s only been the clinking of silverware because no one was talking.  And, I’ve also been on ships where the Captain would sit, like, at the “kids” table, with the junior officers, and he’d be interested in what’s going on with out lives.

But, I really like when they cook really well ‘cause it’s such variety.  Sometimes you get like Filipino chefs who cook really good Filipino food that I would never eat that off the ship; like good oxtail, sinigang soup, lumpia.

..

I really like it when you can watch a nice sunset, or see a beautiful rainbow.  When it’s quiet out, and you’re doing you job and you’re not stressed out, and you know you’re getting down what you need to get done, you can drink coffee and look out the window.

And then on the flip side I really like it when very crazy out and it feels like you’re juggling like 30 different puzzle pieces.  Like that crazy moment of we need to get the ship this port and there’s like a million fishing boats out there, and at the same time relaxing and drinking a cup of coffee.

..

Weather is not normally an issue. Weather systems, tracking and forecasts are getting so advanced that they just avoid all bad weather.  The company contracts out another weather routing company, and that company will send us the best route for fuel efficiency - they’ll look at the waves, the pressure - then they’ll tell us the best route to take.

..

I really like going over to China because that was like the peak of my skills.  Long nights, lots of traffic, and so many fishing boats, aggressive fishing boats. They would yell at you on the radio, shine lights at you, and shine lasers at the bridge.  I always enjoyed that because it felt like that was when I was really using my skills.

I have the best of memories of the job working over there.

..

We pickup the Pilot at the Pilot station, and the time we get to the dock and tie-up, that can range from anywhere from an hour to 9 hours.  When we were in Shanghai we have to go up the Yangtze River and that’s like an 8 hour pilotage.  So from pickup the Pilot to mooring the ship, we are 8 or 9 miles up the river.

I think the ships would stay in port 12-20 hours at most.  When they comeback here to the U.S. they’re here a little more because that’s when they’re picking up all their food, doing crew change over, and doing repairs.    

..

I love the job, and I would keep doing it.  But, my dad - he was in the military so, and he was always gone, deployed.  I understand serving your country, you have to go.  If world war three happened, God forbid, and they called me up to man one these ships, I would go.

[This job] the money is great. The time off is great,  and I love the job, but I’m looking at maybe starting a family.  I’m not saying you can’t do that while sailing, I know plenty of people that do.

But I’m just thinking I could probably make less money, budget, and still be on the water.  Still use these skills somehow, and not be gone for that long.  It took me awhile to figure that out, four years of school, and almost three years of sailing.  I still work on the ships here in the port - I love night mating.  I love seeing my friends who come in and I get to take the watch from them.

..

During COVID when a lot of the guys were retiring jobs were really plentiful.  There were jobs on the open board, you didn’t even have to wait.  You could just come in (to the hall) and say no one’s taking this job, I’m going to take it.  For me, signing up for the union and being on a ship was less than a week.  I come off that that ship, and comeback after my vacation and I get on another ship.  It was really plentiful.

It depends on like the politics.  If one administration wants to prioritize ship building, and build ships, then we might have more jobs [the effects of COVID retirements have abated].

Or we have prepositioned ships - those are like overseas floating warehouses so the military has supplies to, maybe a hot zone in case something broke out.  But, you know, those ships cost a lot of money, so it’s a balance between having you’re gear, your supplies, money. So, it depends on the political climate of the time.

Then there is the Jones Act (The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, most recently revised in 2006).  Probably if the Jones Act goes away I don’t think any of us will have a job because the Act puts in place a lot of measures to help and project U.S. shipping.  I like to think, you have the military with bases all over the world - who are you going to trust to bring your supplies over there?  If a war breaks out, who you going to trust to man these ships?

Justin Storrs, 3rd Mate

..

Photo: Robert Gumpert - 03 October 2025

 
 

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Robert Gumpert Robert Gumpert

02 November 2025

From the MMP Hiring Hall

Jacob Gross, 37 tanker man.
At the MM&P hiring hall. Oakland, California
Photo: Robert Gumpert 31 October 2025

 

I graduated from Cal Maritime in 2018. Before that I was in the Navy, since I was 18, so I’ve been on the water since I was 18.


It’s different than it used to be.  When I started sailing there was no internet, you couldn’t even call home.  There was a phone, but it was like a one minute delay. So, you’d say something, then 30 seconds to a minute later you’d hear something back.  It wasn’t worth calling.  But now there’s Starlink, you feel more connected.

I used to enjoy that disconnection.  I’d set my bills up, and just leave. But that was before I had kids, and a wife, so …

..

I don’t live here, I live in South Africa. I grew up here in the Bay Area but I married a South African Afrikaans girl and so we live there.


I come here for about a week, I visit my parents, I come to the hall a couple of times, and then I usually have a job.

Instead of waiting for those ships that everybody wants (containers), and competing with everybody in the Los Angeles and Oakland halls, I don’t have to do that [with tankers].


This union does not have a lot of qualified tanker-men, so there’s not a big pool of people to relieve you.  The only reason I’m taking it (this job that came up) is as a favor to the company.  They already have somebody to relieve me.  They’re just waiting for that person’s paperwork to get processed by the Coast Guard, so I know in 60 days I’ll be off.

..

You have to be careful (on a tanker), there’s a big blowout in a pipeline or something, a spill of oil into the water, then it could be your license.  You’re gonna have to defend yourself.  That’s always a worry, so you want to be on ships that have good equipment.

..

In the US fleet [tankers are in poorer condition than box ships], globally not so.


[In] the US fleet there’s this business model that the companies follow, especially [with] these government contracts.  They buy an old ship, 10-12 years old, tankers are really only allowed to operate for 20 years, so shipping companies will have a ship, they have big services due, and they decide, let’s lease it out for the rest of its life instead of running it ourselves.  These MSC (Military Sealift Command) contracts are guaranteed - 5 year, high paying contracts - so they get a crappy old ship and they run it to the end of its life at a pretty good rate - a cheap rate because it’s an older ship - and then they do it again.


If it was a domestic oil tanker the best contract they would probably get to move oil is probably a year when it’s (the tanker) over 12 years old.  But the US government hands out 5 year contracts, at high rates, so they buy [old ships].

..


[There is] a mandatory, once a year class in Mississippi, in handling guns. It’s to familiarize yourself with the three different types of weapons they have onboard: a rifle, a handgun, and a shotgun.


[The guns] are for different things; the pirates are just one.  Maybe you get a lone gunman type situation, like somebody has a mental breakdown. Or even protect yourself from someone who is part of the ship’s crew.


We don’t have enough training, I think.  Once a year feels like too much for me, and not enough at the same time.  I think they would be better off hiring a security team to ride the ship than to arm the sailors themselves.


Sometimes they tell us they want us to carry the guns while we’re on watch, loading and unloading oil, which just seems like a bad idea because we’re not in the military, we’re just civilians.  I don’t want to carry a gun when I’m on watch.  People have made mistakes and fired the gun by accident, and sometimes captains will issue the guns, but not with bullets. [That] doesn’t make sense to me.  If you’re going to issue them, they should have bullets.


There’s a lot of confusion about it, about how it should be done.  My thoughts are if there’s concern about security they should hire a security team.  There’s plenty of beds on the ships for extra people.


..


I try and just do 90 days [at sea], but it always ends up more. In general I try and keep it to 6 months out of the year.


With some struggles [I’ve made it work with my family].  With my son, he’s 12, and he’s used to it at this point.  But it’s definitely not the easiest job, with a family.  The internet does help with that, I talk to them everyday, never used to be able to do that.  It helps.


..


You know there’s a lot of routine, and if you have a story it’s probably something bad happened.  I find the routine of it, nothing crazy happening, that’s how it usually is.  If you have some stories it usually means something happened.


So, I don’t have a lot to talk about when … [I get home].  My wife gives me crap about it because my son doesn’t really know what I do, right?  You can explain it but he’s never seen me at work.


It’s interesting, it goes way back this idea of the sailor, the image of the sailor.  The image is you’re out on the town, you’re drinking, having a good time.  Nobody sees sailors at work.  So, there’s this kind of mystery.  They see the carpenters, plumbers working, they never see the sailor working.


My son is the same way.  Even though I tell him stuff about work. It’s such a mystery.

Jacob Gross, tanker man

…

 
 

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Robert Gumpert Robert Gumpert

27 October 2025

From the MMP Hiring Hall

Neil Caldwell, 33.  Chief Mate.

“[I’ve been] sailing since 2014, so 11, going on 12 years, professionally”

10 October 2025 - MM&P hiring hall - Oakland, California

Photo: Robert Gumpert

“I kind of grew up on it [the water] , lived on a sailboat with my father for the first 15 years of my life. And then started going to college.  It was right after the 2008 crash so, I was pretty worried about getting full-time employment, and decided to get the training, get my license, and start shipping in the merchant marine.”

…

“[I like being on the ocean], I do.  I just recently got off and wanted to stay home for a bit, but after about two or three months on land I start getting the itch again, seeing the big waves and the motion of the ocean.  I always end up going back.”

…

“All my friends are always asking me what’s the scariest thing I have ever seen out there, but no one ever asks me the most beautiful.  So, one time I was going down the west coast of Central America, and we were passing through the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) where it’s all stormy. We were off of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, the entire sea had bio luminescence, the most I’ve ever seen, and we were having lightening strikes, like one every two seconds.  It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, one reflecting the other. It kind of looked like I was on a spaceship.”

…

“I have seen big waves, but after awhile big waves are more scary than interesting.  I just did my first hitch as a Chief Mate, going through a storm as a Chief Mate where you’re responsible for all that is a lot different than as a Second Mate.”

…

“[A story] from the last Captain I sailed with. He was a Mainer, he was from Maine, but he was originally from Alabama.  He was saying that when he was 18, he worked the shrimp boats, and some old captains were showing him the old weather tricks.  There’s one called the “Marching Elephant”. If you’re seeing a sunrise, and you start seeing these clouds, and they kind of look like marching elephants - one holding the other’s tail, and it’s red, you’re about to have a bad day.”

…

“I was on a 250 meter boat, but it was wide.  They’re brand new, they just got built last year, so they are still figuring them out - how they ride, and like.  I think that ship had only been through two storms so, they’re still figuring out what the best course of action is when going into storms.  It’s not like the old school ships from the ‘70s when they were built like brick shit houses, you could plow through seas and still keep speed up.”



“The ships I was just on were built in China, and it kind of showed.  They were already breaking down after a year. The scaffolding, how thick the steel was supposed to be, was set in the plans, [but] we kept bunching holes in the hatch covers.  Then we measure it, and it was like thirty percent less than what was called for in the yard. But once you’re on, once it’s out (the ship), it’s set in stone.  I don’t know if it comes from the company that commissions it, or the shipyard says we’ll do this.  They give them a good price on the bid, but that’s how they make their end work by doing a little less here, a little less there.  If you do one millimeter less on the paint coat on the hull, that’s like tens of thousands of dollars in paint you’re not using.  But you’re still charging for it.”

…

“Every ship has its own reputation.  What’ll happen is you’ll get a guy on there who’s making it not so fun, or easy to sail with, and it takes years for the ship to shake it once that person leaves. Sometimes a guy’s [saying] there’s no overtime on that ship, and all of sudden you get none of the ABs (Able Body seaman) because they’re trying to make money, not sit in their rooms.”

Neil Caldwell

…

 
 
 

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