U.S. Faces Shortage of Commercial Sailors --- Good pay and perks aren't enough to fill jobs, raising concern over national security

 

“KINGS POINT, N.Y. -- Some of America's best starting salaries are at sea. And they aren't luring enough workers.

 

Straight out of college, graduates from the country's maritime academies can earn more than $200,000 as a commercial sailor, with free food and private accommodations. Commercial sailors travel the world. Coffee breaks come with an ocean view. At night, the sky explodes with stars.

 

Despite the pay and perks, maritime jobs go begging, and it is raising national-security concerns. America is already short of commercial seafarers for a cargo fleet President Trump wants to see grow. Very little cargo currently moves on American-flagged ships, partly because of staffing. U.S. shipping companies, which are generally required to hire Americans, say they are starved of crews.

 

The shortage is getting attention. An executive order from Trump and proposed bipartisan legislation aim to resurrect America's maritime industry across shipbuilding, ship ownership and shipboard staffing.

 

The Pentagon depends on commercial sailors and private ocean carriers to move its equipment. The U.S. employs an estimated 10,000 commercial sailors, a number that has fallen sharply as America outsourced much of its shipping demands to China and other countries.

 

For the Navy, which operates only a small number of cargo ships and relies on commercial carriers and mariners for most of its needs, the shortfall could be crippling. The Navy last year mothballed 17 supply ships because there weren't enough commercial crews to run them. In a conflict, the U.S. would likely struggle to position, reinforce and resupply its overseas forces.

 

"Assuming we can build ships or bring them back under U.S. flag, can we man them sufficiently?" asked retired Navy Rear Adm. Mark Buzby, a U.S. Merchant Marine Academy graduate and former administrator of the Transportation Department's Maritime Administration. "I don't think so, not without some significant changes" that boost the number of marine-academy graduates and improve industry job retention, he said.

 

The U.S. began as a seagoing nation, and the merchant marine -- its corps of commercial sailors -- played a vital role in winning World War II. But over the years, the U.S. shipping industry atrophied as dependence on inexpensive, foreign-made goods came to rely on foreign-operated cargo ships with foreign crews.

 

Being a sailor wasn't a great job through most of America's history, and in much of the world it still isn't. Many veteran U.S. sailors no longer want to spend months at sea, where until recently they had been largely cut off from communications.

 

To address the problem, shipping companies have begun offering fat signing bonuses. To retain hires, they are lifting salaries while improving onboard gyms, connectivity and cuisine.

 

Still, many young people aren't even aware that the jobs exist.

 

When John Salkeld told students from other colleges he was studying to be a commercial sailor, he faced befuddlement.

 

"They're like, 'Wait -- that's a thing? Are you on a big boat, going across the ocean?'" recalled Salkeld, who graduated in June from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, the nation's premier institution for training commercial sailors.

 

Noah Lastner, who also graduated from the academy in June and has since sailed to Singapore and the Philippines, said young people often learn too late about the opportunity.

 

"You find out after you went to normal college and you're sitting in this cubicle and you're trying to find another option," said Lastner, who spent months sailing while at the academy and has also worked in real estate. "Once I went to sea, I realized how hard it would be to give up that lifestyle and transition back" to an office job, he said.

 

Since his recent voyage, Lastner has lived out of a van, driving across the U.S. skydiving, base jumping and speedflying in spots including Utah's Wasatch Mountains.

 

The Merchant Marine Academy, founded in 1943 to address wartime need for sailors (and also known as Kings Point for its location on New York's Long Island Sound), is one of five federal service academies. Unlike the others, it struggles for attention and funding. Kings Point, with an enrollment of roughly 975 students, in recent years has drawn more attention for a sexual-abuse scandal than its academics or career opportunities.

 

"This academy has been neglected for way too long," said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, addressing a school dinner in April. He has since returned twice, and the Academy recently released a campus modernization plan to address Trump's executive order.

 

Commercial sailors generally spend about six months at sea each year, broken into smaller stints, though they may work more or less. While at sea they work every day, covering a required shift plus potential overtime.

 

When not at sea, most American sailors relax or hold landside second jobs that tap their knowledge of machinery and engineering.

 

"I don't think sailing is that hard to sell," said Charles Wahlin, another June graduate from Kings Point. "I mean -- money, six months vacation, live wherever you want. And you're serving the nation. What other job allows that much flexibility?"

 

As artificial intelligence threatens more office jobs, hands-on work like sailing is increasingly appealing, especially to the mechanically inclined.

 

"It's honestly the ultimate man-cave," said Wahlin. "Nobody would care if you just took out the welder -- like, after work, you just were welding."” [1]

 

1. U.S. News: U.S. Faces Shortage of Commercial Sailors --- Good pay and perks aren't enough to fill jobs, raising concern over national security. Michaels, Daniel.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 01 Dec 2025: A2.