From the MM&P Hiring Hall #10 Monique Watanabe
Monique Watanabe, Chief Mate and Lauren, 1 year on 22 November 2025 MM&P Hiring Hall, Oakland, California
I’m Monique Watanabe. I’m chief mate on a heavy lift ship, the Ocean Giant. I’m permanent, and we go all over the world.
The Ocean Giant is actually Ice Class. We can go all the way up to Greenland, and we can go all the way down to Antarctica. We’ve had the contract, oh my god, since 2013, to go down to Antarctica every year. This is the first year that we're not going.
But other than that, we go anywhere you can think of. They're finishing up a run from India to Canada right now. That's where I'm gonna pick up the ship, in (eastern) Canada.
Then from there, because we're a true tramp ship, I have no idea where we're going. I have no idea what is in store. It's just whatever the next contract comes up.
It's East Coast Canada so they went from India, and down around the Cape of Africa because they're not allowed to go through the Suez Canal, and then up to Canada. We’re not allowed to go through the Suez because the company has said that we won't be doing any Suez Canal transits for a very long time. The other reason is a lot of the cargo that we're running, it's a 1.1 D - which is ammo, or dynamite, or other explosives.
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I’ve never been on a fixed route, always tramp. I did car carriers with the U.S. Oceans, C-Corp. I've been doing that for a while now. So, I've done the Green Bay, the Green Lake, the Green Cove, and the Ocean Giant. Then I did one tour with Liberty on the Liberty Promise - all car carriers.
I genuinely do like tramp trips. It's very different. You definitely don't know where you're going to go next.
The nice thing about the car carriers is they, for C-Corp or U.S. Oceans, they predominantly do NYK charters. So we go to Japan, pick up cars, and then we can go East Coast or West Coast. Or wherever they decide. We do a lot of military equipment, so sometimes we can pick up military equipment coming out of Tacoma [Washington state], and then going down to Hawaii, and over to - the last time I went with them - Indonesia.
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The typical sail time, it can vary. I've had one trip that was a hundred, and I want to say, a hundred and sixty days. Almost six months. Then I've had as short as 84. I knew I was getting on here in the United States, and then I had somebody come relieve me over in Japan. So, it's definitely a difference.
But, I mean, the minimum contract for MMP is normally 120 days rotary. Rotary means? Oh my goodness. It's the standard contract - so 120 days. If it's a relief job, they typically put what the relief job would be - you know maybe 30 days, or 75, or 80, or 90, depending on what the relief is setup for. That's usually when you're relieving someone who's permanent, or somebody who's decided that they don't want to sail for a continuous 120. They can take what we call a ‘trip off’, meaning that they get off in San Francisco, and then they get back on in San Francisco, if the ship does that.
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Choosing a favorite port is so hard. My least favorite area, I'd have to say, is the Middle East. It's quite a challenge to be working in the Middle East as a female. The longshoremen are definitely a little bit of a challenge to work with. It's a little frustrating. There's plenty of ports where I get off and they tell me that I have to have an escort, or I can be arrested. So, I always have to have somebody trotting behind me, usually it's one of the cadets. If I have a male cadet there, they're right behind. Or right next to me, so that they can “escort” me. That's a little frustrating trying to get my job done.
So I never… I’m never alone. I always have somebody next to me. Never a female. Always a male. And you never put yourself in a one-on-one situation. Ever. So always stay out in the open, and make sure you watch your back.
Nowhere else is like that. Japan, amazingly enough, that's the most respectful port that I've ever been to - or country that I've ever been to. Korea, no problems. When I was in Australia, absolutely none. The United States, I mean, usually just my stature, unfortunately, you know, I've kind of gotten this don't mess with me stature. Usually I could get around pretty okay and get my job done in a timely manner, no problems whatsoever.
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I have not been to China yet. So that's one place that I definitely want to go to, just so that I can get time in and see the differences. I mean, I really do enjoy spending time seeing the waterfront; seeing the different types of people that you see, or get to interact with. On the waterfront it’s not your standard typical people. You get a little bit more genuine, you know, feeling of what the locals will probably be like. If they have any complaints, or have any problems with the Americans, you'll see it - no problem.
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I had a friend who said she had a program that she thought would be really fun for me. It was pretty much working on boats, sailboats and cutters, because I worked on an 82-foot ex-coast guard cutter for a while. One of our benefactors was - he loved boats - he had a heart for old military boats.
So he had the 82, and he actually had purchased a 120 foot ex-coast guard cutter, the Morris. He also purchased a 180 foot ex-coast guard buoy tender, and brought it up from Baltimore all the way to Stockton.
(Anyway), she said you might actually like this. I think you should come down and check it out. And I fell in love. Absolutely just went, I love it. We ended up taking a tour of a American ship, the Liberty Grace, in 2001 when she first was built. She did a round the world tour, and I looked up and went, my goodness, that's cool, and fell in love with that.
Then Melanie, who is the (MMP) VP here, she went to California Maritime, and she brought me over to show me the campus. I was like I think I figured out what I want to do. (I) ended up going to school, getting through the program, and I was like, well I’ll just keep on going. So, a hobby into a career and I haven't stopped since.
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I have been sailing professionally since 2010. The Hall has definitely been very … it's changed. It's kind of more like my second home. As crazy as that sounds, it really is like my second home. Me and Sean [a friend, a captain, they went to Cal Poly Maritime Academy together], we've known each other for thousands of years. And Melanie and I, I mean, we pretty much grew up together, so it's somewhere that I feel comfortable with, to communicate back and forth with others.
Obviously I feel safe enough to bring my child, and show her what the world, what my world, looks like even though she's not going to be able to see what mommy does, ever. Maybe one day I can get her on a ship, but she'll never really see what mommy does. But she gets to know the people that I work with.
So it’s definitely a different place, a different environment. It's also one of the major reasons why I ended up going commercial. I've worked for California Maritime Academy, I did that right after [graduation]. I also worked for Marine Spill Response Corporation, working on their small vessels. If it wasn't for the Hall, I probably would have never busted into the big ships; the Liberty Grace or the Ocean Giant, or any of the car carriers. So it's been a big opportunity, and definitely means a lot.
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Family is a loaded subject. My mother always sat here and hoped that me liking the water, and what I do, would just be a quick fantasy. A quick hobby. And then I would turn around and become a stay-at-home mom. Never in 1,000 years would she even think that I would be shipping out and doing what I can.
But family means everything to me, which is one of the major reasons why I like this job. I can take 90 days and tell the office don't call me. Nothing's that big of an emergency (that) y'all can’t figure it out, and I'm going to spend time with my daughter, my husband, my parents. And being able to take my parents, and my husband's parents, on vacation with us to Hawaii is something that I never dreamed we'd be able to do. So, family is everything to me. I love this job because of that, so I can do this.
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Monique Watanabe, Chief Mate
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Photo: Robert Gumpert 29 December 2025
Transcription: Michele Colyer