Preparations for the Dockworkers Strike--Just in Case it happens...

[Rastus]

What TAB said.  I do think, however, that land based crane operators are overrated and I do understand they can be fired for 1 bad day.

Just for a little different perspective...  Back years ago and it continues today that if you worked on an offshore platform you pretty much had to be a crane operator.  Certainly if there were only 2-3 people operating a platform they all had to be certified crane operators.  There are a lot of platforms in the Gulf of Mexico where I worked....and a whole lot more crane operators...thousands and thousands and thousands of them.  Most of the crane operators have the highest certification to lift not only equipment, but men as well.  Man certification is the highest certification and that is a certification that I held. 

Yes, the dockworker crane operators are lifting things from a big boat and putting them on a truck, train or whatever on a dock.  But the boat is stationary and offshore the boat is not.  From an offshore platform the boat is moving with waves and wind and picking up a load is far more challenging an dangerous than from a stationary ship to a dock somewhere.   Imagine if you haven't lived it, rigging up a load in 12-15' seas with the boat heaving up and down, while the boat is being pushed side to side along with a simultaneous roll...and there are people that are around and under the load because of boat movement dynamics.  You have to time your lift and adjust your block to a level (elevation) where you pick up 100% of load weight at the top of the wave without snatching a crane overboard with you the operator...which happens.  Then you need to lift the thing quickly because the boat may have moved some crew under your load so you have to pick it up enough and swing it clear before the boat rises on the next wave and crushes the hookup crew. 

You have to be cognizant of your boom angle because that determines how much of the maximum lift rating you can have.  A 40 ton crane is rated at that when nearly straight up....but boomed down to say 30 degrees from horizontal you may only be able to pick up 12 tons.  So while you are dealing with boat dynamics and are concerned to keep personnel safe you must stay cognizant of that boom angle...or you can crater a boom and drop a load through a deck....and sometimes be pulled down with it.  The container land operator guys don't have these kind of things to constantly deal with.  And it seems they get paid more than offshore operators.....with better bennies....