Category Merchant Navy

My son is doing First Year Junior Science and plans to join merchant navy. Please tell me whether one can joint merchant navy after B.Sc.?  Will it have any bearing on his prospectus? When and how to apply for merchant navy? How long is the training period? Will he be disqualified if he wear glasses?

The Shipping Corporation of India (a public sector undertaking), the Great Eastern Shipping Company, Essar Shipping Company and Chowgule Steamships Ltd are among the biggest shipping companies in India.

A merchant vessel has the following four departments of work: the crew, officers, engineers and catering.

The captain, or the chief-in-command, is responsible for the entire ship. He has to look into the details about the arrival and departure from the port, port papers, immigration, and messages. The safety of the ship is his responsibility. The second in command is the chief officer who has a number of tasks like maintenance, loading and unloading and training of cadets. Next to him is the second officer, who is responsible for navigation equipment, and who plots the course of the ship and the distance from one destination to the other. He is also involved in loading and unloading, and is responsible for hospital and medicines. Next come the third officers, who take care of safety equipment, loading and discharging, as per the orders of the chief officer. The entry point is that of cadets.

The crew has chief officer, the bosun, the able seaman (AS) and ordinary seaman (OS). An OS has to learn navigation, as well as look after the maintenance of the ship. Some shipping companies have a lower rung, that is first and second seaman below the OS. Next comes the Able Seaman (AS) who is involved in the control of steering and maintenance of the ship. Higher up on the ladder is the Bosun, to whom OS and AS report. He is turn gets his orders from the chief officer. The crew also has a motorman, who is in charge of engine room maintenance and looks out for oil leakage, machinery, error, etc.

There’s the department of engineers, consisting of the chief engineer and fourth engineer, who are there to check and maintain all the machinery. There are also staffers like stewards to take care of the cooking for the entire ship and cleaning the rooms and the work area.

While roles are clearly defined in the various departments, there is continuous activity on the vessel, and one shift takes over the baton from the earlier shift. There’s activity at 12.00 p.m. and there’ activity at 4.00 a.m. So the ship never sleeps.

Salaries are very lucrative in the merchant navy. For example, an ordinary seaman earns Rs 25,000 to 30,000 per month, a fourth engineer draws Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 per month, a chief officer earns about 1.25 lakh, and the captain, Rs 2 lakh to 3 lakh. But then, it’s a hard life too. There may be occasions when the sea gets too dangerous. Those are the moments when you would have to remain calm and think well, despite any duress. A crisis situation would also require the navigators to handle the steering manually. The engineers would have to fix any major systems’ failure so that the vessel can at least reach the nearest port.

TS Chanakya, Navi Mumbai, MERI, Kolkata and LBS College of Advanced Maritime Studies and Research are the leading institutes in India for a comprehensive range of courses for merchant navy personnel. Most of these courses are open to candidates who have done their 10+2 and the duration is of three years for some courses, and four years for others. Candidates should be physically fit for the arduous life of the sea and candidates of nautical science should also have a normal vision. Candidates of marine engineering are, however, allowed glasses of plus or minus 2.5.

Since your son has already joined a B.Sc. course and cannot join a nautical science course now, here’s a piece of information that will cheer him up. The Shipping Corporation of India recruits Nautical Officer Cadets, for which science graduates with physics and mathematics are also considered. They have to undergo a three-stage training: a pre-sea training of four months, an on-board training of about two years, and then a post-sea education course. This training is expensive, however. The pre-sea training costs about Rs 85,000 the post-sea education, about Rs 1.2 lakh.

Picture Credit : Google

I am student of science in class XII and want to know about merchant navy in detail : the entrance process, training programmes, fees and other expenses, salary and perks, functional set up of merchant navy, job profiles, etc.

The Shipping Corporation of India (a public sector undertaking), the Great Eastern Shipping Company, Essar Shipping Company and Chowgule Steamships Ltd are among the biggest shipping companies in India.

A merchant vessel has the following four departments of work: the crew, officers, engineers and catering.

The captain, or the chief-in-command, is responsible for the entire ship. He has to look into the details about the arrival and departure from the port, port papers, immigration, and messages. The safety of the ship is his responsibility. The second in command is the chief officer who has a number of tasks like maintenance, loading and unloading and training of cadets. Next to him is the second officer, who is responsible for navigation equipment, and who plots the course of the ship and the distance from one destination to the other. He is also involved in loading and unloading, and is responsible for hospital and medicines. Next come the third officers, who take care of safety equipment, loading and discharging, as per the orders of the chief officer. The entry point is that of cadets.

The crew has chief officer, the bosun, the able seaman (AS) and ordinary seaman (OS). An OS has to learn navigation, as well as look after the maintenance of the ship. Some shipping companies have a lower rung, that is first and second seaman below the OS. Next comes the Able Seaman (AS) who is involved in the control of steering and maintenance of the ship. Higher up on the ladder is the Bosun, to whom OS and AS report. He is turn gets his orders from the chief officer. The crew also has a motorman, who is in charge of engine room maintenance and looks out for oil leakage, machinery, error, etc.

There’s the department of engineers, consisting of the chief engineer and fourth engineer, who are there to check and maintain all the machinery. There are also staffers like stewards to take care of the cooking for the entire ship and cleaning the rooms and the work area.

While roles are clearly defined in the various departments, there is continuous activity on the vessel, and one shift takes over the baton from the earlier shift. There’s activity at 12.00 p.m. and there’ activity at 4.00 a.m. So the ship never sleeps.

Salaries are very lucrative in the merchant navy. For example, an ordinary seaman earns Rs 25,000 to 30,000 per month, a fourth engineer draws Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 per month, a chief officer earns about 1.25 lakh, and the captain, Rs 2 lakh to 3 lakh. But then, it’s a hard life too. There may be occasions when the sea gets too dangerous. Those are the moments when you would have to remain calm and think well, despite any duress. A crisis situation would also require the navigators to handle the steering manually. The engineers would have to fix any major systems’ failure so that the vessel can at least reach the nearest port.

TS Chanakya, Navi Mumbai, MERI, Kolkata and LBS College of Advanced Maritime Studies and Research are the leading institutes in India for a comprehensive range of courses for merchant navy personnel. Most of these courses are open to candidates who have done their 10+2 and the duration is of three years for some courses, and four years for others. Candidates should be physically fit for the arduous life of the sea and candidates of nautical science should also have a normal vision. Candidates of marine engineering are, however, allowed glasses of plus or minus 2.5.

Since your son has already joined a B.Sc. course and cannot join a nautical science course now, here’s a piece of information that will cheer him up. The Shipping Corporation of India recruits Nautical Officer Cadets, for which science graduates with physics and mathematics are also considered. They have to undergo a three-stage training: a pre-sea training of four months, an on-board training of about two years, and then a post-sea education course. This training is expensive, however. The pre-sea training costs about Rs 85,000 the post-sea education, about Rs 1.2 lakh.

Picture Credit : Google

I am a PCM student of class XII. I want to join the merchant navy. Apart from the two merchant navy colleges in which admission is done through IIT screening, please tell me about the other colleges. Please provide information on the admission procedures and fee structures of these colleges.

Well, MERI and TS Chanakya are the best places to be if you want to join the merchant navy. But if you want to avoid the IIT-JEE, there are a few other options. The academy of Maritime Education and Training, Kanathur, Tamil Nadu, offers a number of courses. Among them in BSc Nautical Science, approved by the Director General of Shipping, Ministry of Shipping, Government of India. It is offered in collaboration with Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi. You should have done 10+2 with PCM. Entry is on the basis of a written test and interview, sometime in June. The fee structure is high – Rs 75,000 per semester for a six semester (three-year course). The same institute also offers a four-year BE programme in marine engineering. For this, you should have cleared class XII with, at least, 60 percent marks in PCM group. The fee structure for this course too is similar. Address: AMET Campus, 135, East Coast Road, Kanathur – 603112, India Email: amet@vsnl.com

Then, there is Chidambaram Institute of Maritime Academy, that offers two courses: graduate marine engineering (GME) and diploma marine engineering (DME). The former will require you to be a BE (mechanical) or BE (naval architecture); BTech. (mechanical or naval architecture) or BSc mechanical. No other stream of engineering will be considered.

The DME course will require you to be a diploma-holder in mechanical/marine/ship building/naval architecture or electrical engineering from an institute approved by AICTE. The address is: CMET, 46, Moore Street, Chennai-600 001; cmet2@vsnl.com

The Sea Horse Academy, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh also provides deck cadet officer pre-sea training. However, admission is done directly by the academy for sponsored candidate. The address is: Sea Horse Academy of Merchant Navy, Sambamurthy Street, Ramaraopet, Kakinada – 533 004, Andhra Pradesh.

Picture Credit : Google

I am doing my BE in electronics and power (electrical) from Nagpur. I want to join the merchant navy right after the completion of my course. Please tell me how to join the merchant navy. Are government companies included? When and where should one apply? What is the criterion? Would i have to undergo special training after BE?

Since you are doing electronics and electrical engineering, you could apply for merchant navy straight after your degree. The shipping company that recruits you will then send you for training. In fact, there are special courses at government institutes like T S Chanakya that are specially meant for cadets sponsored by shipping companies. Meanwhile, you must start looking for newspaper advertisements for vacancies in these companies. Also, do an Internet search to assess job prospects in these companies. 

Picture Credit : Google