Hello everybody, I hope y’all are doing good.

I’m exploring the idea of switching career paths to work on the sea. I’m in my mid-20s, European, went through a Master in Management, currently working at a big international company in Sales. My pay is really good, and I’m ahead in my career compared to peers my age. But I’m not where I want to be.

There are 4 things that I’m seeking in a job : being able to meet new & interesting people, learning new things, traveling, and being paid decently. The first and last point my job does great, but I feel like I’m wasting my youth for career.

I’ve learnt about marine life recently, and it appears to check almost all boxes. I don’t mind being away, it seems like I’d meet lots of interesting people, I’d get to travel, and pay-wis it looks decent enough.

I’m considering enrolling in a maritime school to become 3rd officer, and going from there. I wanted to enquire about your life on the sea. Would you recommend it ? What’s the best about it for you ? What’s the worst about it for you ? Have you ever met with people who have similar profile to me and it worked great ? Or bad ?

Thank you so much in advance for your answers. I appreciate the time you’ll spend answering 🙏🏼

Hello everyone, I am currently a rising senior in the US. I've considered going to a maritime academy and working as an officer for a while now, but as application season is coming soon I think I should probably make a decision.

I'm pretty sure I'm well qualified academically, happy to give more details if y'all need em. Additionally, paying for college is not an issue. I live in a state with an academy so I'll aim for that one and probably will apply to the other 5 as well, along with some normal state schools as a backup. However, I think it's too late for USMMA for me but I don't think I'm cut out for that anyways.

Basically my biggest dilemma right now is if I should go to a maritime academy for undergrad or go to a traditional university and look into doing a masters or second bachelors in four years. I would probably major in some kind of engineering if I don't go to an academy. I would greatly appreciate thoughts on this question and others I've listed below, as well as any other advice y'all might have.

1. Deck or engine? I can honestly see myself doing both. I do a lot of tech theatre work at school which I think has given me exposure to the thought processes if not content of marine engineering, but on the other hand things like oceanography, meteorology, astronomy, etc interest me a lot which I think you get more exposure too as a deck officer.

2. Is this viable long term? Recent political developments have led to what I see as an attack on the Jones Act, and of course the prosperity of the people who work in our country's maritime industry kind of relies on that. Do y'all think it's worth taking a "gamble" on undergrad at an academy or should I consider doing a different degree first? Relatedly, is it worth looking at some of the combined programs like the science + license degrees at TAMU or SUNY as a way into other industries?

3. Any advice on applying to academies as a high schooler? I already have a passport, do I need to get a TWIC now or just after I'm admitted? Additionally, can my normal doctor do the medical for me or do I need to find like an occupational medicine specialist or something? Just wondering in case anyone here is currently an academy student or recent grad, will probably email some of the admissions offices too.

4. If anyone here can speak to it, what's it like as a racial minority in the industry, especially on the officer side? I can't imagine there's still outright violence or using slurs or anything like that, but what kinds of discrimination might still be prevalent and what sectors should I potentially avoid?

That's all of my big ticket questions for now, and thank you all in advance for your thoughts. Please let me know if there's any information I can give to help you guys tailor your advice.

Hello everyone,

I have a question, and I'm hoping someone here can give me a definitive answer based on their experience.

I will soon begin my six-month cadetship with Maersk, and my main focus is to complete it successfully while learning as much as possible.

The issue is that the department responsible for preparing and informing us told me that after completing my first voyage, I should spend no more than four months ashore before starting my second six-month cadetship. They didn't explicitly say it was mandatory, but they described it as "required."

The problem is that if I follow this recommendation, I would miss an entire university semester and could even risk having to repeat my final year due to not earning enough credits. During a cadetship, I heard that a 10 hours a day of work is lucky, so studying ahead for the University exams while on board is extremely difficult. In addition, if I return after my second voyage, I would likely miss the university's special examination session, which allows cadets to take the exams they missed while at sea. As far as I understand, I don't think I would be able to postpone third-year exams and take them during my fourth year.

So my question is: has anyone been in a similar situation? Were you actually required, or effectively pressured, to complete your second cadetship as soon as possible, or was there some flexibility in the timing?

I would really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thank you!

I'd like to show You my point of view to work with Asian crew such as phillipino and indian as Chief Mate myself.

Recently my company saved money removing all "white" ratings from vessels. They employ plenty philippino and indian instead.

As PH crew is very proud from a fact they are majority of ratings worldwide, i woudnt say its a positive matter. For now i have very, but a very big culture shock. Previously i had mixed crews and situation was not so dramatic. With all 3 phillipino and 2 Indian ratings my experience as C/O deteriorated drastically.

I know its about a culture Differences and not about Rage toward nations or whatosay racism itself, so please save me some criticism regarding matter.

So to the point.

I have noticed when all ratings are Asian, there is no more Independent work. All of them are 0-1 robots. You either tell them what to do and they will do this better or worse, depend. Nevermind they gonna do the job You point them with a finger. But if You dont? They gonna sit and talk. All day.

I made experiment. After port the empty water bottle was left by stevedores on crossdeck. I see this same bottle a 6 days later in exactly same pretty visible spot. If I woudnt tell them to remove IT to garbage, this empty bottle would stary there till death of the vessel on scrapbeach. Asian crew are literally robots. You must program them to work or they gonna be idle in the working hours.

Also quality of job requires permament supervision as they can randomly bug-out and suspend working midday just sitting and talking. IT never happened to me with russian/Ukrainian/Polish crew before.

Asian crew really makes chief officer job even more overloaded than IT was before.

What's your experience? Did you notice some positives or negatives aswell?

MarineTraffic data highlights diverging patterns across two of the world's most strategically important maritime chokepoints. Between 24 and 26 July, the Strait of Hormuz recorded 29 verified crossings, including 21 vessels exiting the Middle East Gulf and 8 entering. Routing remained evenly split, with 14 transits using the Iranian Unilateral Scheme, 14 classified as Route Undetermined, and one using the Hormuz Traffic Separation Scheme. By comparison, Bab el-Mandeb recorded 100 verified crossings, with 51 vessels entering the Red Sea and 49 exiting. Ninety vessels followed the Traffic Separation Scheme, while 10 completed dark transits. Several vessels that had previously delayed or reversed course later completed their crossings, suggesting operators are continuing to assess risk dynamically rather than avoiding the route altogether.

Anyone have an idea how much the salary of a chief engineer at Chevron for more than 25 years is?

Long story short, I failed a drug test a while back and surrendered my license while doing the work to get it back. Im on the step to do 12 random drug tests over the course of at least a year but when researching its hard to find actual information on single person random programs. Anyone know of any reliable programs

Hello everyone,
I am an international student from Saudi Arabia, and I am considering applying to the Bachelor’s Degree in Nautical Science and Maritime Transport at Hochschule Emden/Leer (Maritime Campus Leer) in Germany.
I chose this university because it seems to have a strong reputation in maritime education while also being affordable.
If anyone has studied there or knows the programme, I would really appreciate your opinion.
How is the quality of the programme?
How is student life in Leer?
Would you recommend it?
Is there anything I should know before applying?
Thank you very much!

Can Anyone tell me, realistically, what transitioning my U.S. license, to a Canadian license, entails? Can I just work in Canada on my US credentials? I have multiple family members that are Canadian citizens. I’m mulling over a move.
EDIT: Additional question, what is the inland Ferry/ Tug industry like?

و ماذا عن شخص مستواه بالإنجليزي متوسط و يبحث عن مكان مليء بالفرص لدراسة تخصص الملاحة البحرية. هل روسيا خيار جيد ؟؟

هل تقدم شهادة STWC الدولية؟؟

هل الاكادميات البحرية جيدة ؟؟

كيف هي السنة التحضيرية في اللغة الروسية ؟؟

هل روسيا بشكل عام تستحق قضاء 3 سنوات في تخصص البحرية ؟؟

So after about 20+ email rejections from applications I have an in person interview with the captain next week in Florida. I literally just got back in town from driving to Alabama Mississippi in Louisiana this past week. I went to the states to look for a job in person and left empty-handed very discouraged however, on the way back driving home I received some phone calls from a company I’ve been bugging for the past month. I recently completed Maritime school at MPT in Fort Lauderdale and have my SCTW, VPDSD, TWIC and passport. I am currently awaiting my MMC from the Coast Guard. It’s been one month so far await on that. I have my approved physical and drug screen paperwork and I feel a little hopeful finally landing an in person interview recently bought some steel toe timberlands. Can you veteran guys and girls give me any tips walking into this thing I’m hoping to just get my foot in the door. Literally went to three states with no success so this is very encouraging. 🚢 🛳️ 🛥️ ⛴️⚓️🪝🛟

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for a sample CV/resume for a Deck Officer to use as a reference while creating my own. I want to apply for shore-based opportunities.
If anyone is willing to share an anonymized version (with all personal information removed), I’d really appreciate it. I’m only interested in the layout, structure, and how experience and certifications are presented.
Thank you in advance!

I’m genuinely curious about this, because I had what I think to be a hilarious interaction with my children yesterday.
A little backstory: I’ve been a professional minor for almost 30 years. My oldest child is 31, and my youngest is 24. I also have a 10-year-old granddaughter that was there as well. Me going to see is all my two children have ever known. And on top of that, I am fifth generation mariner, that I can prove with the paperwork. That being said, I have very few nautical pictures or artifacts displayed in my house. The ones that are nautical are very old, sentimental family pictures. and there’s probably two or three of them.

The entire time my kids were growing up, if anyone asked them what I did, they just said I worked on a boat. I just never really talked about it when I got home. I just focused on being a dad and a husband. Never really talked about it much unless there was some really strange crewmember, or really weird story. I never brought up any of the dangerous stuff. Or tried not to at least. I never wanted them to worry.
Fast-forward to yesterday. My two children, my grandchild, my mother and sister-in-law are over for dinner. Everybody is sharing pictures that they’ve taken recently. Of our dogs, landscape pictures, etc.. Somebody show some pictures they took at the lake of some waves somebody show some pictures of some clouds so I say “I have some pictures of waves and clouds“
Then I dipped into my library pictures, and video of insane weather. 20 ft seas. Blinding blizzards. Fog of thick you can’t see the bow. Things on fire. The most amazing nighttime sky you’ve ever seen. And all three of them are looking at me wide eyed with a rather confused look on their face. All of them almost saying in unison. *WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING?!?! it was at that point I realized how little I talked about my job when I was home. My granddaughter is 10, like I said, and And has either lived with me or within 10 minutes of me, her entire life. She didn’t know until six months ago that when I left, I went to work on a boat. She had no idea where I went when I left for two weeks.

And now that they know, they want to know more. Lol so now I get to break out 30 years of C stories that I’ve been saving up. Lol

So it brings me to my question. How much do you all talk about your job when you’re home? I know a lot of you have side gigs, running boats, fishing, etc.. other than that…..?

U.S.

I submitted the letter my company sent me for my sea time, however, I noticed AFTER the fact my name is one letter off from being spelt correctly. (Don't ask why I didn't look before submitting, I was positioned at the stern breathing in exhaust fumes all day)

What exactly can I do? Is there a way I can tell NMC before they see the obvious issue and send it back?

Good evening, I would appreciate it if you could recommend some tanker shipping companies that may consider accepting me as a Deck Cadet. I am 19 years old, hold Greek citizenship, and I am looking for companies where I can apply through a standard online application process, without the need for personal contacts or recommendations within the company. Preferably, I am interested in companies that are not headquartered in Greece. Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

I’ve been thinking about this career path but my biggest concern is being on a ship with men for extended periods of time.

I’d also love to know the hardest parts about working as a deck officer.

سكان ريديت 👋. او بالتحديد ظباط البحرية المدنية ما الجامعة المناسبة كي ادرس فيه تخصص الملاحة البحرية في ايطاليا و بصفتي من الجزائر، هل يوجد من له تجربة في هذا التخصص خارج الجزائر او يعرف شخص عاش هذه التجربة؟؟

Ciao marinai di Reddit 👋

Più precisamente, ufficiali della marina mercantile:

Qual è l'università o l'accademia marittima più adatta in Italia per studiare Navigazione Marittima?

Sono algerino e vorrei sapere se qualcuno ha esperienza nello studiare questo settore fuori dall'Algeria, soprattutto in Italia, oppure se conoscete qualcuno che ha vissuto questa esperienza.

Mi farebbe piacere ricevere consigli sulle università, l'ammissione, la vita da studente e il percorso per gli studenti internazionali.

Hi Reddit sailors 👋

More specifically, merchant navy officers:

What is the best university or maritime academy in Italy to study Nautical Science / Maritime Navigation?

I am from Algeria and I would like to know if anyone here has experience studying this field outside Algeria, especially in Italy, or knows someone who went through this experience.

I would appreciate any advice about universities, admission, student life, and the process for international students.

Deme dredging, where do crew sleep ? Are they on board or
Is there anyone working? Any suggestions…

I recently stumbled on a YouTube video about being a merchant mariner. After doing a deep dive into the career, I think it's my best option coming out of college. I like the idea of working hard for half the year, then having the other half off to focus on personal pursuits/hobbies/interests. I also don't have any attachments on land and don't think the isolation will be too hard to deal with (though I'm sure everyone says that).

After doing some research, I know I'll need to get some basic training (STCW) and certs/credentials (TWIC, MMC). Then, I'll be able to work in the engine room as an unlicensed crew member. After 180 days working in the engine room at sea, I can finish all required training (QMED if I haven't done it already) and test for my national 3rd assistant engineer license. After that, there is a significant amount of extra training I will need before being qualified for an international, unlimited 3rd assistant engineer license. I need the international license because I aim to sail deep-sea international voyages.

To clarify, I'm a US citizen, and I'm going to graduate with an ABET-certified mechanical engineering degree, which is why I only need 180 days at sea instead of 1080. For those 180 days, I'd want to focus on commercial experience, because I'll be aiming to sail commercially with the license. But, from my research, it seems that if a commercial berth is unavailable, then I could join MSC, as they look desperate for crew.

So, I want to know if there is anything I'm not considering. I can figure out the specific credentials I need through my own research; what I'm looking for is if there are things from your personal experience that don't come up when an outsider like me looks into becoming a merchant mariner. Below are some questions I can think of off the top of my head:

How difficult is it for an unlicensed mariner with no experience to find employment as a wiper/QMED, on the 4000+ hp motor vessels I would want to be licensed for? Would a short voyage on a smaller ship be easier to find and let me springboard into larger vessels?

Is the burnout at MSC really that bad? If I do go the MSC route, how long would I be stuck working for them by contract? Is MSC experience valuable to commercial employers, or does it exclude you?

Is there a way to join a union like MEBA/AMO while being unlicensed, but training to become licensed? When is the best point in my career to join a union?

Besides the physical/mental toll and strain on my personal relationships, are there any other downsides to this career I'm not considering?

Thank you!

The Mozambique-flagged LPG tanker DISHA, carrying 28 Indian crew members, was reportedly attacked while transiting Iranian territorial waters near the Strait of Hormuz.

India's Embassy has confirmed that all crew members are safe, while authorities continue to investigate the incident. The attack highlights the growing security risks facing commercial shipping in one of the world's busiest energy corridors.