Bob-at-sea

Merchant mariner here, and I can attest that you are not the only industry regularly inspected by law enforcement. On the marine transport side, we deal with the us coast guard VERY regularly. The principal difference is that marine transport is primarily limited to federal oversight (hence the uscg) rather than inspection by state law enforcement

In a lot of ways our professions are very similar, my road just moves around under me.

It’s not even close to enough. Remember this dude is the captain, typically the highest paid crew member (though the chief engineer can come close) of a vessel that weighs tens to hundreds of thousands of tons, carries thousands of containers which may have hazardous cargoes in them, thousands of tons of fuel oil, and 20-30 or so people for whom he is directly responsible. All in an environment that is constantly trying to drown you. If someone gets hurt or killed, he’s responsible. If the ship grounds and spills oil in the water, he’s responsible. I don’t think paying mariners appropriately is asking too much

I work upstream from you as a sailor on a tanker. I can tell you also that even the majors will move product amongst themselves based on demand. So it’s very possible and likely they even say, Chevron gas will have origins from multiple different refineries.

Not OP, but I’m a US deck officer, and there have indeed been some changes since the sinking of El Faro (she was crewed by officers in my Union so we think about the lost frequently). There were some procedural changes between the US coast guard and ABS (US classification society) in how they certify and inspect boilers/power plants/ vessels, especially as they approach the later stages of their lifespan. New standards were also developed for how we as deck officers are trained, with particular emphasis on meteorological forecasting and weather routing. Also, based on the NTSB conclusions, the way that bridge resource management is taught and practiced on board was improved to promote masters to solicit and, more importantly, consider input from everyone on board. In all, I think it was a real wake up call, especially for the US merchant marine that, despite a lot of advances in safety and communications, what we do is still inherently dangerous and none of us can take the sea for granted.