The Merchant Navy offers a career like no other. Not only does it offer excellent remuneration and promotional opportunities, but also tremendous scope for adventure and travel. The Merchant Navy is a non-combatant commercial fleet, which deals with transporting cargo and, occasionally, passengers, by sea. The Merchant Navy fleet includes cargo ships, container ships, barge carrying ships, tankers, bulk carriers, refrigerator ships, passenger ships as well as roll off/roll on ships.

The commercial purpose of the fleet offers lucrative openings for engineers and navigators. The work of many other professionals and support staff required on board a sailing vessel have been described here, under the section "Jobs in Merchant Navy".

Among all developing countries, India ranks as one of the countries having the largest merchant shipping fleets. Therefore, there is enough scope for employment in Indian as well as foreign ships.

Career Prospects

Qualification as a merchant navy officer can lead to opportunities throughout. Since the marine sector is growing, there are strong prospects for work. The merchant navy provides a range of career paths, with opportunities at sea and onshore. Following are the career options in merchant navy :

Deck Officer - The officers from this branch primarily look after the ships navigation, loading/unloading of cargo and the general maintenance and administration of the ship. The officer joins in the rank of 3rd officer and is subsequently promoted to the rank of 2nd officer, Chief Officer and finally the Master of the ship.

Engineering Officer - These are the officer who are qualified in Marine Engineering. They join as 4th Engineer and step by step, get promoted to 3rd, 2nd and Chief Engineer, subject to their passing the competency exams and performance onboard the ship. The Engineering department in addition to looking after the main engines, are also responsible for associated equipment like power generation equipment, cargo pumps and air - conditioning etc.

Purser - He is an officer who looks after all the administrative work related to pay and perks of personnel onboard. However, this category of personnel has also been almost phased out and their duties passed over to other deck officers.

Ratings - There are three kinds of ratings - deck, engine room and catering. Deck rating is responsible for cargo handling, mooring/ unmooring and general maintenance of the ship. Similarly the engine room ratings assist the engineering officers in maintenance and operation of engines and associated equipment. The catering crew consists of Steward / Cooks and as the name suggests, they look after the catering and the house keeping of officers cabin.

Job / Employment Opportunities

Merchant Navy is the backbone of international trade, carrying cargo all over the world. Without the merchant navy, much of the import-export business would come to a grinding halt! Placement may be found on various types of ships such as tankers, cargo and passenger ships. Companies that run merchant ships require trained people who can operate and maintain the ships. Trained people are required for the three main departments of the ship: the deck, the engine and the service department.

Therefore, there is enough scope for employment in Indian as well as foreign ships. And since the Merchant Navy offers excellent remuneration and good career prospects, many young people are being attracted to the profession.

Today, there is hardly any career which can fetch such high salaries at such a young age that the Merchant Navy offers. It provides a career like no other - a career at sea and opportunities ashore in the evergrowing maritime sector.

Please visit www.maidenvoyages.in for further details of the courses available in India & Abroad for pursuing a career in Merchant Navy.

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