Captains guide to Merchant Navy

 

My wishes to you all

Hi there, this is Capt Venky commanded in various types of ships in Merchant navy and worked with many companies. While I was looking for the career in Merchant Navy, it was not that easy in those days, but now all information and guidance are available at your fingertips.

Many of you all will be completing higher secondary now and will be looking for bright career and future. There might be many confusions in order to select which will be suitable for you, where to step in.

Don’t worry all were crossed from the similar scenario and those are well settled in different organization.

While choosing your career, you could confidently consider the Merchant Navy job, which will not disappoint you. I will not mislead anyone as this is not my business, where I can make profit.

Due to Russia/Ukraine conflicts, many seafarers from Russia/Ukraine are stuck, this major impact caused seriously demand in seafarers.

Therefore this is right time to step in to Merchant Navy carrier. This article might give basic knowledge about Merchant navy field. You can contact me in below email, if you have any query, I am happy to assist you.

Introduction

Entry to merchant navy can be a Deck cadet, Engine cadet or a rating.

According to your basic qualification, your interest and financial situation you can choose with any of the above and you can achieve your targeted goal easily.

Captain is the overall in charge on ship.

If your goal is to become Captain of the Ship, you must enter as Deck Cadet. As I said above, if financial situation is your barrier, then you can step in as Ratings and after you achieve require sea time, you may be qualified to achieve Deck officer then reach to your target goal as Captain.

Similarly, If your goal is to become Chief Engineer, you must enter as Engine Cadet, TME, Junior Engineer. As I said above, if financial situation is your barrier, then you can step in as Ratings and after you achieve require sea time, you may be qualified to achieve Engineer officer then reach to your target goal as Chief Engineer.

Departments:

Prior to head in the details of Deck cadet/Engine cadet, we will look in to basic organized structure on ship.

Basically we have three departments in ship.

1)   Deck

2)   Engine

3)   Catering

Deck department as organized by:

Officers:

Chief Officer, 2^nd Officer, 3^rd Officer and Deck Cadet.

Chief Officer is the head of deck department.

Ratings:

Bosun, Able Seaman, Ordinary Seaman

 

Engine department as organized by:

Chief Engineer, 2^nd Engineer, 3^rd Engineer, 4^th Engineer and TME/Engine cadet/Junior Engineer.

Electrical Officer.

Chief Engineer is the head of the department.

Ratings:

Engine Fitter, Motor man, Wiper

 

Catering department as organised by:

Chief cook, 2^nd cook and General Steward.

Captain is headed catering department through Chief Officer.

 

Deck department will be in charge for - Navigation, cargo operations, handling ships stability, Ships deck maintenance, Ensuring deck security.

 

Engine department will be in charge for – Engine watch keeping, Ships Bunkering, Engine maintenance, Cargo handling machineries, deck machineries.

 

Catering department – making food, organizing stores, indent stores,

Maintaining all officers cabin.

 

Accounting:

There is no specified account department as before,

Now accounting are managed by Captain and deck officers.

Ships salary account and salary remittance will be handled directly by Captain through deck officers.

 

Types of ships:

There are various types of ships, mostly you will get Bulk, Containers, and Tankers. You can choose according to your interest after step in.

 

Entry guidance:

On completion of 12^th standard with Mathematics, Physics and chemistry, with score of above 50%, you are eligible to enter Deck cadet / Engine cadet.

 

Methods of entry:

You can either enter through shipping company’s sponsor or by individual. (don’t mistake for sponsor, this is not financial sponsor. Placement might be ease on completion of your pre-sea training as cadet. But placement might delay, it depends number of ships availability in the company.

Every year top companies have their own advertisement for recruiting cadets.

While sponsor companies, will guide you for preferred colleges, individuals should hunt for reputed colleges.

As I mentioned above, if financial is your barrier, you can enter through ratings. In ratings, you can make money and study by yourself. This is also better option.

According to your interest you can step in to Deck rating and Engine rating. There are GP rating courses available in different colleges. On completion of certain sea service, you will be eligible to appear officers/engineers exam. There are many colleges available in India and in abroad. If you are in doubt about entry through rating, please put you query in comments, I can answer you.

Catering department:

If you are interested in Cooking, you should proceed to dg shipping cooking test with all other presea courses. Accordingly you can enter in to shipping companies. There is huge demand for cook.

General Steward: Basically he is second cook and assisting cook. Also he is in charge to maintain all officers cabin. This should be your last option if you don’t have any other choice, I don’t prefer, since there is no future further.

General advice:

Many colleges have all the courses in India, but you should select reputed college in order to have good company’s placement.

There are many agents available in the market for joining colleges and for placements, please don’t fall in their trap, mostly they are cheaters. Don’t lose your parents hard earned money.

My best wishes to your future.

By Capt.Venky