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BY THE NUMBERS

Blue Water Mariners for a Brown Water Fleet?

It wasn’t too long ago (2015) when we last took a look is the right thing to do for many reasons, but the seismic at mariner population statistics of all kinds. Our take at shift comes with risk – and consequences.

that time was that a surge in license-track students at the A Different Perspective: With 61 ships in a reserve op- nation’s six state maritime academies (SMA) had matched erating status (ROS), Marad remains deeply concerned the Jones Act blue water recapitalization effort then un- about the nation’s ability to staff those vessels. Contrasting derway. Ships were being churned out, mariner demand sharply to DHS numbers, Marad estimates that there are was high, and salaries had spiked. Good times, right? ~33,000 credentialed unlimited mariners, including unli-

Less than 23 months later, the numbers look somewhat censed ratings. That’s enough, says Marad, to