Off shoring...........literally! This story about outsourcing is nuts!

[Dover]

Outsourcing: A sea change
By Siddharth Srivastava

NEW DELHI - US industry has long been lobbying to remove immigration barriers for skilled foreign workers. Even Bill Gates recently made a strong case for this. But three US entrepreneurs have done even better: they have hit upon a novel plan to get around the problem - if you cannot fly them in, ship them in. The concept even has a fancy title: "hybrid sourcing".

A front-page report in The Times of India on Wednesday said three American entrepreneurs plan to house an international crew of software developers on a ship just off the California coast. This way, say promoters of the company - called "Sea Code" - US jobs will stay close to home, foreign workers will be saved immigration hassles, and US firms will get competitive rates for their projects. Sea Code will be registered in the Bahamas, hence, not subject to US labor laws. The trio has already identified a $10-million ship called Carousel for this novel venture. ..cont'd

The promoters, San Diego techies David Cook and Roger Green, backed by investor Barry Shillito, a former assistant secretary of defense, say they will hire around 600 programmers from all over the world - including the US and India. "With hybrid-sourcing, Sea Code brings the jobs already offshored back to the US and ensures that 90 cents of every dollar from our clients stays in the US instead of flowing to foreign locations," the company said in a statement. Cook, a sailor-turned-techie, said he expects the venture to sail smoothly: "We're not a slave ship." His partner Green says it will be more like the "International Space Ram Station". ...cont'd

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GE06Df02.html

[DrDebug]

1. It's not nuts

Keep the workers on international waters and sail the SlaveBoat as close to NY as possible, so you can quickly send another boat back and forth for the products, however you don't have to worry about stuff like minimum wages, overtime etc.

I wonder what flag the ship will be under. Liberia again (?)

[Eugene]

2. Sea Code is playing some dodgy games here.

Their ship will have to dock in a port
periodically for fuel and provisions.
Sea Code plans to classify the workers
as "seamen" under a flag of convenience.

How long will it take for Homeland Security
to get wise to a boatload of questionably
documented foreign workers?

Some related articles can be found here:

http://www.embedded.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=161601702

http://www.sourcingmag.com/blog/blogdefault.aspx?view=plink&id=383

[fasttense]

3. I can not see how the cheap labor will off set the cost of maintaining

the ship. They will have to fuel it and maintain electricity, water, food, hygiene. Not to mention it will have to return to port now and then for supplies, maintenance etc... Even nuke subs have to come in to shore now and then and they are not housing 600 people. And what about the real seaman they will need to maintain the ship? I don't know. This sounds like a very risky venture.