MERCHANT NAVY – ENTRY PATHS

The Indian merchant navy ships are owned by both – the private sector as well as the public sector, to manage these ships they hire trained navigators, ship crew, merchant navy officers, engineers, etc. though the job to train these people is taken care of by the Indian government via surface transport ministry.

Following are two pre sea training institutes for marine engineers that provide courses and degrees for those seeking to pursue a career in merchant navy:

• Government marine teaching ship ‘Chanakya,' Mumbai holds a 3 year degree course after completion of which one gets to be a B.Sc in Nautical Sciences under the auspices of the Mumbai University.

• Marine engineering can also be persuaded by a university in Kolkata - the Directorate of Marine Engineering (DMET) now known as Marine Engineering Research Institute (MERI).

The chanakya ship Mumbai trains and prepares cadets for navigation, the master of ship is the highest post for a navigator; similarly chief engineer is the highest post for a marine engineer.

In order to be a recognized navigating officer one needs to obtain a competency certificate as per the rules and regulations in India by giving and clearing the exam of masters and mates in mercantile marine. As per the chanakya the cadet becomes second mate (which takes from 8 – 10 months of time) after the cadet gets his first certificate, after which students are trained under nautical college for the next 3 months in order to reach the second mates level in merchant navy one needs to work for 3 yrs on board of chanakya as a cadet officer, then needs to serve one year on any ship as a deck officer.

On the other hand, if marine engineering courses are the goal then the very basic exam that one needs to clear is the second class certificate of competency, which is divided in two parts – A and B conducted by ministry of surface transport those who have the final certificate of MERI are allowed to skip part A, to obtain part B one needs to complete the required sea services and part A certificate (except in case of MERI). After this a cadet is given the rank of junior engineer, and with passing exams and giving required results he is gradually promoted to third engineer, second engineer and finally the chief engineer.