Effective Manning at American President Lines

摘要

The report is a critical review of the experience of American President Lines and its unions with an effort supported by the Maritime Administration to investigate effective manning aboard the company's J9 class vessels. These vessels were purchased with company and union agreement to operate them at a crew level of 21. Experiences during the effort with facilitating mechanisms such as an internal facilitator, an internal management committee, senior officer planning, all-crew meetings, and a labor-management committee to stimulate, evaluate, and promote change are discussed. Redesign of work functions and modifications in shipboard and shoreside work structures are discussed. The changes in the physical and social shipboard environment aboard the vessels is also described along with the results of a design workshop for the company's C-10s to plan the new design and its operation.