A US offshore industry group is launching a committee to explore ideas on building out its labour pool.
The Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA) — which counts approximately 60 OSV owners as members, including Tidewater, Seacor Marine and Harvey Gulf International — said it was looking for members to join its Workforce Development Committee to craft policy positions and strategies to get more Americans working in maritime.
It intends for the committee to be composed of experts nominated by members touching on various parts of the industry, with at least one member currently holding a merchant mariner license.
"The foundation of the Jones Act industry is the hardworking men and women that build and operate US-flagged vessels," said OMSA president Aaron Smith.
"Currently, there are too many barriers preventing these mariners from advancing their careers or returning to the industry after the downturn.
"I look forward to seeing what solutions the committee can formulate to cut this red tape and reestablish the hawsepipe."
He said the committee would also focus on recruiting new workers to the industry.
The move comes as the US is set for an offshore wind boom, driven by President Joe Biden's goal of 30 GW of wind power capacity by 2030.
While some foreign-flagged ships can do the work necessary to construct the wind farms to provide this capacity, much of it will have to be done on purpose-built US-flagged ships.
Those ships will need to be built in the US, owned by a US company and crewed primarily by Americans in keeping with the Jones Act cabotage law.
