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NewswireToday - /newswire/ -
Jacksonville, FL, United States, 2008/08/22 - TugboatLife.com, an online maritime community for maritime and dockside personnel, families and aficionados, is celebrating its first year of service and has logged over one-half million unique site visits.
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Tugboatlife.com, a maritime community Website, has celebrated its first year of operation. The site, which caters to maritime industry workers, received more than one-half million visits in its first full year. Additionally, the site received a sponsorship from Crowley Maritime, one of the largest tugboat fleet operators in North America.
Captain Robert Johnson, a tugboat captain with more than 15 years' experience, is one of the principals for the site. "We started Tugboatlife.com because we wanted to attract people who are interested in our line of work." The site has welcomed hundreds of registered members, and highlights the work that tugboat operators do. In the past year, the site has added several capabilities, including photographs, news stories, discussion forums, and feature articles all related to tugboats and maritime work.
Johnson says the site was designed to reach younger workers, who are in short supply in the maritime industry. Severe shortages of replacement workers mean that tugboat companies have to work hard to recruit qualified personnel. "We wanted to build an online user community for people who are interested in tugs that gives a different perspective than corporate sites do."
In a faltering economy, the job prospects for the right candidates are excellent. The work doesn't require a college or trade school degree. Nonetheless, many new workers are coming from the nation's maritime academies, or have served in the armed forces. "There is a lot of on-the-job training," says Johnson. "If you want to advance in the industry, you have to study. Many tug companies now offer release time from work that will enable workers to get the training they need to advance."
According to Johnson, Tugboatlife.com is growing steadily and plays an important role. "Recruiting new workers is a high priority," says Johnson. "Shipping is more important than it's ever been. We need good people to fill a lot of open positions and if Tugboatlife.com helps put those people in contact with companies who are looking to hire them, then we're doing good work."
Shipping/Freight/Cargo
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captrlj[.]gmail.com 
