On 13 July 2001, the Navy transferred the Supply (AOE-6), the first of a four-ship class of fast combat support ships, to its Military Sealift Command (MSC), marking the beginning of the final chapter in the "civilianization" of the Navy's combat logistics force underway replenishment ships. Since 1972, sailors have watched as Navy underway replenishment ships have been decommissioned and reincarnated as MSC ships with blue- and-gold stack stripes and civilian crews. Who are the federal civil-service mariners already operating 100% of the Navy's oilers, combat stores ships, and ammunition ships? They are nearly 3,500 Navy employees—and a quiet success story. In this era of public-private competition, studies have shown this force to be less expensive than its private sector counterpart—the U.S. Merchant Marine.
How can these federal civil-service mariners (CivMars) support the Navy so effectively and do it so cost efficiently compared to the private sector? The short answer is that MSC's CivMar force evolved differently from the U.S. maritime industry, an industry not particularly competitive internationally.
About 63% of mariners sailing on MSC-controlled ships are CivMars—most of them on combat logistics force ships. Nearly a quarter are active-duty Navy retirees. About half are veterans, with the bulk of those having served in the Navy. There is no mandatory retirement age for either civil-service or private-sector merchant mariners; rather, mariners may continue working as long as they meet physical standards and are otherwise qualified. The average CivMar age is 46. MSC requires that its CivMars hold Coast Guard-issued merchant mariner documents.
Prerequisites for advancement include higher Coast Guard-issued endorsements or licenses (earned through sea time), formal training, and, in some cases, satisfactory completion of a Coast Guard-administered proficiency examination. Ex-Navy sailors often receive credit for their sea time in service, enabling them to take exams for higher qualification endorsements before beginning civilian careers afloat.
Pay and Benefits
By law, CivMar pay and pay practices follow closely those in the commercial maritime industry. Wages vary according to rating, tonnage, horsepower, and coast. CivMars also earn substantial overtime pay. The high operating tempo and labor-intensive nature of underway replenishment means there are few eight-hour days or 40-hour weeks at sea. Generally, CivMars' benefits are like those of other federal employees. They earn four, six, or eight hours of annual leave per two-week pay period, depending on their years of creditable service. Unlike federal employees who work ashore, CivMars also earn one day of shore leave for every 15 calendar days on one or more extended voyages. Those with previous active military service usually count it toward years of creditable service for annual leave purposes.
Civil-service mariners historically served on one or more ships for at least six months prior to detaching for leave, but minimum tours have been shortened to four months in a nod to commercial practices and the more challenging recruiting and retention climate. They rotate off and on ships throughout the year, regardless of the ship's deployment status. This practice is common to most commercial ship operators, although private-sector mariners usually rotate more frequently. Conceptually, a CivMar's relief reports on board prior to the incumbent's departure. Those returning from leave usually report to MSC's Afloat Personnel Management Center offices in San Diego or Norfolk for training and ship assignments, sometimes made in consultation with an MSC program manager. CivMars frequently return to the same ship or class, which increases crew continuity and builds operating expertise.
Unions
Unions represent most U.S. merchant mariners in both the private and public sectors. Of the 104 U.S.-flag shipowners or operators in the private sector, 88% have labor contracts with one or more of the major maritime unions. When you include major oil companies and others with independent employee unions and associations, the figure is 92%.
The Federal Service Labor-Management Statute establishes the right of most federal civil-service employees—including MSC's CivMars—to elect union representation. There are differences between federal and private-sector labor rules. In the federal sector, a union is obligated to represent bargaining unit employees, but the employees are not obligated to join the union or pay dues. Conversely, most U.S.-flag shipping companies have exclusive contracts with specific maritime unions, whose hiring halls often serve as employment halls for seafaring personnel. When one of the union's contracted companies has a shipboard billet to fill, a union commonly determines which member has right of first refusal on the basis of the member's seniority and length of time spent ashore.
In the private sector, wages are a prominent negotiation issue. In comparison, MSC, like most federal activities, does not negotiate wages. Organized private-sector employees also usually have the legal right to strike; federal employees do not. Several major maritime unions represent CivMars. Often, management achieves the best results when it partners with its CivMars' union representatives early in the game. This was the case when MSC began operating three combat stores ships with modest interim habitability upgrades. Union-management partnerships often uncover unique ways to solve problems or smooth implementation of new processes.
Training
A key difference between Navy sailors and MSC CivMars is where primary responsibility for training rests—for CivMars, it is with shore staff. The Afloat Personnel Management Center tracks a CivMar's qualifications and arranges for needed training between assignments afloat. Ship-unique familiarization notwithstanding, CivMars, having been licensed and/or certified by the Coast Guard, are considered competent to assume shipboard duties when reporting on board.
The Coast Guard requires active civilian mariners to complete a range of recurring training for various ratings as part of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafaring. The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations' maritime agency, developed the convention to raise merchant marine safety and professional standards worldwide. Approximately 18 new international training requirements have been implemented in the past several years, such as tankerman person-in-charge, bridge resource management, advanced fire-fighting, in-charge medical care, and personal survival techniques.
Commercial training requirements represent only a starting point for CiviMars. Navy operations and systems require personnel trained and proficient in much more than seamanship, navigation, engineering, and cargo operations. Navy and MSC policies levy a large number of additional requirements on various ratings. These range from general training such as damage control to specialized training such as damage control to specialized training such as guided-missile handling, ammunition identification and handling, underway replenishment, mechanical and hydraulic maintenance, surface rescue swimmer qualification, and Navy supply systems courses.
MSC's civilian afloat training teams drill crews in ship operation and emergency responses and generally hone teamwork skills. With increased authority of port state control officials to require mariners to demonstrate competency, the global maritime industry appears to have moved closer to the Navy's training standards, where highly motivated and skilled training specialists embark expressly to drill crews in emergency responses and professional standards.
Retired and ex-Navy sailors are highly sought by both MSC and private operators for their training and skills. Navy sailors, who spend perhaps 14 years of a 20-year career on board ships, however, do not retire to civilian life with any commercially or internationally recognized certificate of seagoing competence that is immediately marketable, unless they seek out such certifications on their own initiative. After retirement, it will cost them time and money to acquire them.
Detailing
Several studies have shown that CivMars are less expensive than their private-sector counterparts in the dominant U.S. maritime unions. They also receive substantially more training in Navy requirements, even when compared to those working on contract-operated strategic sealift, prepositioned, and special-mission ships. In addition, CivMars differ from most private-sector mariners in that they are full-time permanent employees of MSC. MSC can exercise substantially more control in the detailing process than most shipping companies, the majority of whose crewmembers are not permanent employees. The value of being able to exercise control extends beyond detailing. As the Defense Department relies increasingly on the private sector to support its forces deployed overseas, some question its contractual ability to control or restrict the movement or liberty of contractors' off-duty employees, as often is done for military and civilian federal employees during periods other than war.
Quality
MSC's civil-service mariners are a stable, reliable, and specialized workforce highly trained in fleet support. With most of the combat logistics force now "civilianized," fleet and battle group commanders' theater logistics experts are increasingly senior MSC CivMars. Some masters have 10-20 years of experience in commanding combat stores ships, oilers, and ammunition ships. Engineers who have been maintaining naval auxiliaries' propulsion plants for a decade or two develop unique capabilities and expertise. Crews trained in specialized Navy areas such as ordnance handling, supply systems, and underway replenishment, and who repeatedly serve on naval auxiliaries, offer a high degree of continuity—increasing the likelihood of safe and efficient evolutions. With MSC's CivMars, the Navy retains a core of operational logistics expertise.
Cost
Crew and fuel costs are ships' largest expenses. Unsurprisingly, those familiar with the potential for outsourcing to reduce costs, as well as those who covet the thousands of seagoing billets and the revenue and influence they represent, periodically propose that MSC outsource combat logistics force ship crewing. To appreciate why conventional outsourcing wisdom has not yielded the expected result, one must recognize how the U.S. maritime industry differs from other industries. Most corporations view outsourcing as a way of reducing wage rates and fringe benefits and evading restrictive work rules associated with an often unionized work force. Within the U.S. maritime industry, a somewhat different dynamic is at work.
As private-sector U.S.-flag merchant marine jobs have declined, elements of maritime labor periodically have proposed that MSC outsource operation of combat logistics force ships to private operators, who would rely on union hiring halls for crews. Working in partnership with the industry's federal agency advocate, they assert that outsourcing would save money, and failing that, at least would increase the pool of merchant mariners available to crew U.S. Maritime Administration-maintained Ready Reserve Force ships during emergencies. For maritime labor, seagoing jobs tied to government contracts provide insulation from pressures of international competition and uncertainties surrounding the future of cabotage laws and commercial operating subsidies.
The General Accounting Office completed a study in late 1997 that states it costs approximately 5% less per year to crew ships with CivMars than with commercial mariners. A close reading, however, suggests that the actual difference is larger. Extrapolation of the study's figures suggests that if both maritime labor and MSC had based their estimates on the same crew size, CivMar cost savings would have grown to 8%. The General Accounting Office also questioned organized labor's use of wage rates at odds with the Service Contracting Act for the 37% of the time that combat logistics force oilers usually operate or remain within U.S. territorial waters. It noted that private-sector costs would have been another 5% higher if maritime labor wage rates consistent with the act were incorporated. The real cost difference therefore may be 13%, before factoring in uncounted costs such as a private operator's overhead, general and administrative costs, and profit.
Differences in vacation and medical insurance costs were primary reasons why CivMars were less expensive than their commercial counterparts. The average private-sector U.S. merchant mariner earns four to six months of vacation annually, whereas the average CivMar earns one-third of that amount. In addition, federal employees pay a portion of their own health insurance costs, while private-sector union mariners do not.
The General Accounting Office did find that outsourcing the operation of combat logistics force ships would create jobs for more mariners. With its longer and more frequent vacations, the private sector requires 2 to 2.5 mariners for each shipboard billet. In comparison, MSC requires 1.25 mariners to fill each seagoing billet.
Current and Future Challenges
With the favorable results from recent General Accounting Office program cost comparisons, one might expect the Navy and the Pentagon to encourage public-private competition in the operation of government-owned prepositioned and strategic sealift ships. Instead, prevailing political winds suggest the CivMar force will remain a focus of outsourcing advocates into the foreseeable future. Some may seek to avoid unhelpful cost comparisons, perhaps by again lobbying for legislation to exclude CivMars from operating or competing to operate new-construction naval auxiliaries. We must ensure taxpayers' and the nation's best interests are not forgotten as government agencies, industry, and labor rush to weave increasingly tight and interdependent partnerships.
Commander Morris is a civilian marine transportation specialist with Military Sealift Command. A graduate of State University of New York Maritime College, he served as a surface warfare officer on active duty, worked in the private sector in logistics managements, and joined MSC in 1991.