The Military Sealift Command employs more than 5,500 civil service mariners while it has another 1,500 contracted mariners. All are charged with keeping the U.S. Navy’s sailors and Marines at sea fed and able to do their jobs. MSC also supplies the fuel and ordnance to America’s warships, and in addition, provides the sealift and ocean transport for all of the U.S. military’s services as well as for other government agencies.
Without MSC, the Navy couldn’t do its job and the rest of the U.S. military would face serious challenges.
To accomplish its mission, MSC operates 140 logistics supply ships, which include fleet replenishment oilers and dry cargo/ammunition ships. These unsung vessels allow the U.S. Navy to deploy its aircraft carriers and other warships for months at a time.
“The types of ships for the workforce initiative include Fleet Replenishment Oilers (T-AO), Dry Cargo/Ammunition Ships (T-AKE), Expeditionary Fast Transports (T-EPF), and Expeditionary Sea Bases (ESB),” the Navy explained.
Struggling to Fill Its Ranks
MSC is simply vital to the interests and security of the United States, and yet, it currently has the same Achilles Heel as nearly all of the branches of the U.S. military – namely that the command has struggled to fill its ranks in recent years. Recent estimates found that MSC faces as many as 800- to 1,000-person shortages daily.
As a result, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro recently approved a plan to address the worker shortage by sidelining some of MSC’s logistic ships – where the vessels would go into extended maintenance periods – allowing the crews to be assigned to higher priority ships.
According to the Department of the Navy, which oversees MSC, rotating crews to higher priority vessels, will minimize overdue reliefs and provide a more predictable work environment for the civil service mariners.
“Our civil service mariners play invaluable roles providing continuous logistics support to our deployed naval forces, and they are working overtime to sustain that mission globally,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said in a written statement. “This initiative will not only address operational logistics challenges we face now, it will ensure that Military Sealift Command has policies, programs, and incentives it needs to recruit and retain future generations of civil service mariners.”
Aging Workforce, Lack of New Talent
The U.S. merchant marine workforce is facing the same trend as U.S. shipbuilders – young people simply aren’t interested and the current workforce is aging.
That is impacting MSC, which also has had to assume broader logistics responsibilities and has experienced higher mission demand for U.S. Navy operations. MSC has seen a strain on its workforce, and that in turn has further contributed to its recruiting woes, but also in keeping its current personnel.
“Addressing the recruiting and retention challenges in MSC’s civil service mariner workforce will take time,” said Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, MSC’s commander.
Earlier this year, Sobeck acknowledged that MSC was facing challenges as it wasn’t as competitive as the branches of the military, while civil service mariners often faced delayed relief, extended deployment times, and pay caps. By reassigning the crews to higher priority vessels, the U.S. Navy hopes that it will provide more predictable schedules and minimize overdue reliefs.
Up to 17 MSC ships could be idled during the realignment, but it would enable MSC to reach 95% manning on its other vessels. The sidelined ships could include one fleet oiler, a dozen EPFs, two forward-deployed U.S. Navy expeditionary sea bases, and two Lewis and Clark-class replenishment ships.
As reported by the Marine Executive, the decision by MSC follows similar efforts by the UK’s Royal Navy, where the Royal Fleet Auxiliary is also reporting staffing shortages. Across the Pond, the issue has been blamed in part on an ongoing wage dispute and chronic low wages for commercial mariners. As a result, the RFA was forced to sideline vessels, while it is now taking steps towards realigning operations to deal with chronic workforce shortages.
In September, the USNS Big Horn, a Fleet Replenishment Oilers ran aground and partially flooded off Oman, highlighting how vital these vessels are to U.S. Navy operations in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.
