Brittany Pinzon, 3rd Mate (MM&P)
Brittany Pinzon, 3rd Mate. MM&P hiring hall, Wilmington, California. 12 March, 2026
“We all come back to this place after going to sea, and time hasn't passed because for us it hasn’t. You have big events that you may have missed (while on the ship), but then you come back to the hall and you see the same faces, the same people, and everybody’s going through the same things. It’s a community and home when you come back.”
I like being on the water, but I’ve done five months when I was cadet, and when I finally get out there sailing as third mate, I think I’d cap it at four months.
I'm not so happy-go-lucky that I can stay out there, and be out on the water for however long it takes. But in general, when I do get on a ship, I feel good. I think this is a common occurrence in the industry - it kind of just wears off. But I do I like being on the water.
The views are probably the best views you'll get. But I'm from Southern California, so I get ocean views a good amount. I get good weather, so not something drastically different.
I like that there's a level of responsibility to the job that you don't get as much any other place. You know, if the ship doesn't sail somebody's cargo gets messed up. It's definitely a little bit terrifying. Maybe it's the adrenaline junkie that's kind of inside of me, it causes an adrenaline rush.
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You can find a lot of fulfillment in doing your job, and doing it well. One of my favorite things is that there's always a goal ahead of you, there's always something you're working towards. Even if it's just getting a next day at sea - for the sea time. [needed to move up rank and union seniority.]
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You get to travel and see different places, but not as much as you might think. You don't get to go off, you're tied down by work, but you still get to see a lot of things. And you get to work with people from all over the world. That's one of the best things I talk about when I come home - I got to work with these people from Japan. Or I got to work with these people from Singapore.
Over in Singapore the ship agent was trying to ask me what ethnicity I was. I was telling him, I'm Filipina. He did not believe me, like I was lying. That’s such an interesting thing to just believe and then tell me to my face, “No, no, you're not.”
I think in Thailand it was the longshoremen who could not believe that I was on the ship. It was kind of absurd - all you can do is laugh. I had people holding their phones up a foot away from me taking pictures just because they were in utter disbelief that I was an officer.
There are Filipinos sailing, but I think their disbelief came from the fact that I was a woman. In Thailand there were women working on ships, but they're all like cleaners. They were there to clean-up the oil, and then put all the cleaning stuff in bags. But I don't think they have ever seen a woman on a ship that had responsibilities that an officer has.
They had to ask me to check the stuff they were doing. They enjoyed that so much it actually helped me out. It was definitely a disbelief because I'm a female that was working as an officer.
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Longshoremen have, I would say, different attitudes everywhere you go. The longshoremen in Oakland are different than the longshoremen here at Long Beach. And obviously the longshoremen in Japan are way different than the ones from California.
I think in Asia - this is a bit loaded – Thailand, Japan, China, I think they’re a lot more come in, work, get out. You don't have to check as much. You do check everything, but everything that they do is always pretty good, especially in Japan.
In terms of treating me differently as a female, one hundred percent. I have had only good experiences here in Long Beach, and Oakland. I think because I night-mate a ton, and I'm always around. I've gotten used to the same people over here in Long Beach. But even in Oakland, I normally have a pretty good experience.
I have had not as great experiences in China, and Japan as well. Japan is kind of different because I'm woman, and I'm Filipino. They don't like either of those things.
In general I haven't had issues with Japan because of how they are with their work. But in China - I had to look this up - there's a finger motion, like the middle finger means something here. Apparently in China the pinky finger means kind of is the same there.
I had longshoremen do that and not listen to me in China and Korea. They did like the pinky finger movement. It's not kind, not a nice motion.
So, China and Japan, I've had a few different run-ins with longshoremen. But security is always really nice everywhere we go.
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(I had wanted to be a longshoreman, like my dad, but) my dad didn’t want me working with longshoremen. He was like I've been around longshoremen. I am a longshoreman.
My dad was like it is a good job, it has the best health insurance you'll ever get. But it's a dirty job, and there's a lot of men in the industry that he just didn't want me around.
He’s retired now, but he still keeps that with him. It's a big part of his identity, and my family's as well which is why I wanted to be part of it, because of the legacy.
My grandpa was a longshoreman. That's kind of how it is with longshoremen. All my aunts and uncles are longshoremen on my dad's side. And the job is so special to me, and I wanted to be a part of it.
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And then my dad sent me into the maritime school which is also male dominated. I thought that was really funny. You don't just work with them (men), and go home, you get stuck on a ship with them for four months. The entire four months! And so I thought it was hilarious.
But yeah, the longshoreman job is something that I want to keep in my family. And I still have that idea in my head that it's going to stay in my family somehow, some way. I guess being adjacent is enough for me right now.
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I think the long-form [ILWU] health benefits you get are out of this world. Our [MM&P] health benefits are good, but theirs are better. And it sets people up.
My grandma, wife of my grandpa who got everybody in, she's been set with his pension and health benefits since he passed away in 2011. She's been a-okay living her life out.
My uncle passed away young and my aunt, she's still young in her 40s, but she's also been set for life because of his benefits. And his son, seven when he passed away and now 10, he's also set for his life. He's the one that gets the card for the longshoreman. When he graduates from college - which is what we want for him - when he's done with that he'll be in the longshore. It's just a legacy of this job helping us. It's pretty huge for me because my dad moved here from the Philippines. They struggled, then longshoremen, and from then on it was smooth sailing.
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I’m in a relationship, but we haven’t been apart too long. The last ship I was on we were together because he's an engine officer, that's helpful. We also both went to Kings Point, so it's nice to have that.
We both know what we're doing, and what we're getting into ‘cos we’re both in the industry. That's gonna help. I know long distance is hard. It's terrible. It does have a major effect, but I think it'll be fine.
It was kind of funny ‘cos on our last ship we were both thirds. He was a third assistant engineer, and I'm a third mate, and we were on the same schedule.
Wewere on an old ship, so he would call all the time and be you guys need to slow down. I need you to …
And then there's times where I was up on the bridge, and I was can we do these things.
We need something from them, they need something from us, that’s how ships keep going.
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This ship was definitely a re-flag ship. It's old. It's just so rusty, and some of the plumbing is just terrible. The drains aren't always great.
The machinery is all older, but according to engineers, the engine still runs fine, and everything is okay. It's just old. It's not up to date with the stuff that we have now, which honestly sometimes is for the better.
A lot of people I talk to like the way ships were laid out before. Like the engine room, it's way less vertical, so it’s more spread out.
The rooms are nicer, and the lounges are pretty big. Our mess hall is a lot more spacious as well.
Now we have ships that are smaller. They're trying to cut costs, so the sinks don't work. It was obviously made better if it's having issues sixty years later versus the ships that are brand new having the same issues.
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I’ve had this conversation before - I don’t want to say that the chief mate position is the most important - I think the most important thing in the maritime industry is teamwork. But a good chief mate is the decider of whether you're going to have a good trip, or you're going to not have a good trip. It’s not just for deckies, it’s for engineers as well.
A good chief mate can change a lot of things. If the deck and engine department need to work together, that's mostly the chief mate. There's a lot of communication there, and a lot of times people under them don't know about that stuff.
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Most important department – the steward's department. If people don't like the food everybody's unhappy.
[However] I think the quality of food on ship is declining. Quality ingredients cost more money than bad ingredients, and a lot of shipping companies don't want to pay the stewards more money for the quality ingredients. So we get what we're given. And it's not always the best stuff.
(That said) it’s “no rice, no work”. I don't think that's in a contract or anything, but people say that all the time. “No rice, no work.” If you don't put rice out for our meals, we're not going to work. Maybe because I'm Filipino I also subscribe to that opinion.
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I finished vacation last week, that's why I've been in the hall so often this week. I got off my ship in September, and I got off vacation in March.
California's housing is horrible right now, and going out to sea for four months (and renting) doesn't make sense, so I live with my parents.
One year I was out for seven or eight months instead of the normal four that people do. It doesn't make sense to rent a place to live.
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One of the ships I went on did Japan - Philippines - Thailand, and I loved that. It was so much fun. I think Japan is one of my favorite places to go on ships because it's so easy to get everywhere, and everything's on your phone. They make it super easy to travel.
I can't say that Long Beach is not my favorite port, it has to be Long Beach. Not just because this is where my hall is. It’s because I grew up here, and this port has given livelihood to my entire family. But also there's something about the waterfront here that just reminds me of my favorite people.
My grandpa, who passed away in 2011, he was one of my favorite people in the world. He loved this job, and he loved this waterfront. So I think that I would get stricken if I said anything differently. He was even buried overlooking the port. So yeah I can't say anything but the Long Beach waterfront.
The worst port? Anywhere in China. I've had bad experiences with tying up, cargo, and just rushing in China.
And Singapore. Singapore sucks to go in and out of. It's one of the busiest ports in the world, and the shipping traffic is horrible. There's people going to thousands of different ports, but using one main channel. Going in and out of Singapore, that has been one of the most stressed situations I've been in my life is.
Indonesia is pretty bad too. I went to a little place in Indonesia that was also pretty terrible. There was trash everywhere. The pilots were not answering us - they just didn't want to come on, so the captain had to take us in. Then they would get on the ship five minutes before we are ready to get to the dock. They dock the ship, and they'd be okay, bye.
It was just so thrown together. There were huge piles of trash in the water, and it was stinky.
Yeah, Indonesia was bad. Singapore is stressful, and China, I've had too many terrible experiences either tying up, or with longshoremen.
So Singapore stress, Indonesia stinky, and China bad experiences.
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I'll probably try and move my way up as much as I can in the eight years I’m committed to sailing for my school.
I have 36 more [sailing] days until my second mate (license), so hopefully I get a job soon. From there I’ll work for my chief mates license. After that, I don't know.
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I think the hall just represents a community of people that are in and out, and out and in.
I love the atmosphere, and you get to see people. I've made so many connections within the years that I've been in here. You night-mate, you meet people. That person knows this person, then all of a sudden you're friends with both of them.
We all come back to this place after going to sea, and time hasn't passed because for us it hasn’t. You have big events that you may have missed (while on the ship), but then you come back to the hall and you see the same faces, the same people, and everybody’s going through the same things. It’s a community and home when you come back.
This union, this union specifically, I just feel like there's a pride in it that I have, and that everybody should have. I'm proud to be an MMP member. Well applicant, not a full member yet, but hopefully soon.
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The industry, it’s different. Even if you work other jobs, you're probably not going to get the environment that we have, it’s amazing. So I wanna stay in the environment, the MMP hall, longshore even.
I was thinking about it because my family's very school forward. My sister just got her master's degree at UC Irvine, and I was so proud of her. I mean my parents obviously were too, but she's my big sister, and one of my role models.
Education at Kings Point was so fast paced, you didn't really get to actually be a learner. It was like, so much is going on and I was playing volleyball.
They sent us to sea for a year, and you do your sea projects. And even those sea projects, you couldn't do to the best of your ability, you're just trying to knock them out. It was so fast paced.
I want to go back to school and actually have fun with education, like I did when I was a kid. I love writing essays. I like the research stuff. It would make me happy to be able to go back to school and actually use that, and keep using my organization skills.
You know, I think the waterfront is basically in my blood now. I'm sure there are career options in the water and on the waterfront that don’t involve me forever getting on a ship for four months.
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Brittany Pinzon, 3rd Mate
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Photo: Robert Gumpert
Transcription: Michele Colyer