I understand that your usage of the terms inland and tug companies are interchangeable, that is not what I was trying to point out.
You said "This is anecdotal, but I think it is easier to go from offshore to inland than vice versa". What you are saying here is that it is easier to start working offshore and THEN get hired by an inland company, are you not?
In your very next sentence, you say "You may have a ton of offshore experience but the tug companies won't really look at you that seriously without the towing endorsement". What you are saying now is that is HARDER to go from Offshore to Inland, are you not??????
You can only get your Master of Towing Vessel (MOTV) after actually training on an actual towboat, so not really sure how starting offshore would help you. Working on offshore osv, drillships, or rigs has nothing to do with the inland towboat industry, except for the fact that they both deal with oil and gas at different stages of the refining prcoess.
I'm not even sure if starting on inland/tugs would necessarily help you get hired by an offshore drilling company because they are two different animals. But from what I can infer, you are making a point, and then totally contradicting yourself because of the way you word your sentences, can anyone else back me up on this?
BlueSteel out