Captain, marine professionals wanted for career ed: Hollywood, Fl

I'm curious about the question of the future of the South Florida marine trades as well as professional crew as we know it today. The South Florida marine Association has been late to the table in advocating apprenticeships within the repair industry and the large and small repair and refit yards are reaping the benefits of not having a skilled work force in place with the younger adults ages 21 to 24 that would be stepping into journeyman positions as carpenters, electricians or fabricators had those apprenticeships been in place like the Northern European yards have been doing for the last 30 years.

The average salary for these positions is $21.00 per hour in So. Florida for a journeyman with ten years or more in the trade and while $46,000 a year isn't poverty it certainly isn't setting the world on fire either. The high end of the scale is around $28.00 an hour and its reserved for project managers or "schooled" individuals usually a Capt. or engineer that's transitioned back shore side so I wouldn't think that the marine trade in that light or those capacities would energize or excite the new generation eyeballing the workplace for the first time.

That being said, I cant envision the repair and refit yards operating with the same format and business strategy that they've been using in So. Fla the last forty years due the finite waterfront land available and environmental regulations encroaching on their operations. I can envision more consolidation of the yards ala Monaco Marine in La Ciota or Amico in Genoa & the closest thing to that model here would be LMC so maybe the writing is on the wall.

The arena for professional crew has been shaken up quite a bit the last ten years with the implementation of STCW and associated costs of complying with the different governing bodies keeping your certifications current. It was always a given that as crew you would give up certain luxuries in shore side life for the travel & above average salaries that maritime crew earn and you accepted that when signing up but when your asked to hit the moving target of a constantly changing licensing & STCW course syllabus & certifications that don't allow you vacation time unless your at a maritime school completing the latest round of insanity thought up by the PYA, MCA and or the U.S. maritime governing board that absolutely don't make a yacht under 3,000 gross tons any safer but has certainly turned into a cash cow for the administrations.

I do know many professional crew / officers on larger vessels that have thrown in the towel and transitioned back or reinvented themselves to escape the chaotic and cramped life aboard and I can envision this to continue. Young people will always be interested in the sea and travel but climbing the ladder as professional licensed crew has become a little harder and maintaining your position on that ladder now costs $25,000 0r $30,000 to maintain every five years My daughter was interested in being a stewardess when she graduated High school and asked if I would grease the skids to place her aboard a charter vessel, My reply to her was to go to FAU for two years and if she still had the yearning we'd talk about it. She never asked again and finished school @ Fla. State and @ 26 years old travels the world working for Siemens as a Automation engineer. As her father I would cringe at the thought of her winning the "best set table award" as a stewardess at the Antigua charter show !