tion onboard merchant ships is hereunder:1. Master ( Captain)
2. Chief Mate/ Chief Officer/ First Mate/ First Officer
3. Second Mate/ Second Officer
4. Third Mate/ Third Officers
5. Deck cadet/ TNOC
6. Chief Engineering officer
7. First Engg( In foreign Companies)/ 2nd Engg( In Indian companies)
8. 2nd Engg (in foreign companies)/ 3rd Engg (in Indian companies)
9. 3rd Engg ( in foreign comp) / 4th Engg(in Indian Companies)
10. 5th Engg (mostly in Indian Comp only)
11. Trainee Marine Engg (TME)
12. Petty Officers
13. Crew ( aka Ratings)
Total complement on ships is from 18 to 24 people.
(In Pic: The Cargo Control Room of a merchant ship)
In this, the management structure is divided into two parts : Deck and Engine. Primary job of Deck dept is to operate the ship, like—navigation, cargo handling, personnel management( including administration, food and provisions, hygiene of accommodation), communication, medical chest upkeep/assistance, Safety of personnel, and last, safety and security of Ship and personnel.
Primary job of Engine is to provide Machinery support to deck in carrying out all its duties. For example, engines and steering are required for navigation. Hence the ultimate execution of commands for engines and steering rest with the engineers. The driving power( electrical, hydraulic and steam) for all the machinery required in cargo handling, is under the charge of engineers. Maintenance of all machinery is under their charge. The task is so enormous that, in fact, personnel management, safety of personnel related to their department and communication related to engine dept is rested with Chief Engg only, although a procedure has been put for sake of formality to route them through the Master(aka captain).
From the list given above, the deck Dept consist of 1,2,3,4 and 5. While the engine dept consist of 8,9,10,11 and 12. Considering the significance of each dept, a chief engg has been equated to master, chief mate to 1st engg, and so on.
Captain is always from the deck department. Thus, the Chief mate is next successor for master. Being the overall in-charge of ship, sometimes he is placed slightly above the Chief Engg, and thus, paid slightly more than him.
Rank –wise duties of each rank are as follows:
Master – overall in-charge of ship at all times, normal and emergencies. His words, even by word of mouth, are orders required to abandon a ship in case of emergencies. He is the person who attends to all the people and government authorities coming on board. He is held liable, indiscreetly, for all the actions and mishaps on his ship. He the person incharge of all communication, internal and external.
Chief Mate: - is the Incharge of cargo handling, personal management under his department, HOD of Deck Dept, Incharge of Ship’s overall Security, internal and External. In-charge for accommodation upkeep. maintenance in-charge for ship’s hull. Does navigation, under charge of master, and as per navigation passage plan made by the Second Officer. Substitute for master, in case master is incapacitated.
Second mate: incharge of ship’s navigation plan, directly under the control of Master. Incharge for upkeep of medical chest, maintenance of navigation machinery (like the radars, the autopilot, the radio equipment, depth recorders, etc.). Performs cargo handling under the charge of his HOD, the chief mate.
Third mate: Directly under control of his HOD, the Chief Mate, he does maintenance of all Life-saving-appliances(LSA) and the fire-fighting-appliances(FFA). Does cargo handling under control of Ch/Off. For navigation, he is directly under the Master.
Thus, one can notice that for Navigation, the Master is the direct controller, while for cargo handling, the control is applied through the Chief Mate, (aka Ch/Off). And all the ranks of deck dept do a navigation job also, while the ship is at sea, and also do cargo handling job while the ship is in port.
At sea, the navigation is conducted in shifts as follows, and every days:
Second Mate: 1200- 1600hrs , 0000hrs- 0400hrs (SMT, Ship Mean Time)
Chief Mate: 1600- 2000 hrs, 0400- 0800 hrs
Third Mate: 2000- 2400 hrs, 0800- 1200 hrs.
Thus all three do an 8 hr navigation each day, in two shifts of 4 hours each. Master does not do navigation, but comes only when called, (for which he is bound to attend anytime when called), and when the ship is “manoeuvring”. “Manoeuvring” is when the ship’s engines are required to increase or decrease, like-- when coming or going to port; dropping anchor, coming inside harbour, passing through heavy traffic area, etc.
At sea, when the ship is cruising at its full speed because there is no traffic and no obstructions, and engines are not required to be increased or decreased, it is called “navigation”. Remember that a ship does not have anything like what u have as brakes in your car. A moving ship cannot to stopped *suddenly* by any means, except by reversing the propeller direction by reversing engines, or by dropping the anchors. Otherwise the ship will always drift with the waters. The propeller is very easily reversed by automated changing of configuration of ‘piston firing’ , in the engine casing.
A ship consumes, like 35 tonnes of Heavy Diesel Oil, in a day to travel at speed of say 16 knots ( 1 knot= 1852 mtrs/second, nearly 2 kilometers per hour).
A nautical mile, in true definition, is the distance between two points located at the earth’s equater which would subtend an angle of 1’,( 1 minute, of a 360 degree notation), on the earth’s centre. It is 1852 mtrs.
The cargo is the most important commodity on a merchant ship, of course after human lives. 70% of world cargo moving at sea, in these days, is petroleum or its product. My last ship would carry 45,000 tons of gasoline( what in India we call Petrol), which would worth some 400million US Dollars!!!. Thus, u can make out how expensive it is. The cost of the ship is only 80million USD. The freight that ship charges for carrying it is, say like, 20,000 USD per day. However, the other bigger ships, which mostly carry Crude Oil only, carry something like 3 lakh tones, and charge freight say, 80,000 USD per day.
Thus, the rank of Chief Mate is very sensitive, because he the person incharge for most expensive commodity on ship, and the very commodity for which a merchant ship exist.
Other ships carry containers, in counts like 2000, 4000, and sometimes even 7500.!!! U can imagine, a merchant ship can carry what the entire depot in Kanpur’s Juhi Nagar, or Delhi’s Faridabad Depot contain! These hubs are called the ICD(inland container depot).
Other ships carry, bulks, like wheat, iron ore ( i have carried hell ot from India’s Paradip/Vizag/Haldia to China), Coal( from Australia to Vizag/Paradip/haldia).
Odd time cargos, carried in the ‘general cargo ships’, that i have done , are like- Graphite blocks of sizes 9 tonnes, to Italy; the rocket launch fuel of ISRO to France; the warfare items for Indian Army from Isreal to India; the fibre boards; the steel slabs of 18tons weight from UK to India(for BHEL), etc.
At sea, the job is mostly about the maintenance of ship’s hull for which ‘chipping’ and painting is done, with the help of ship’s crew. The Engine dept does it’s overhauling of machinery, with the help of its crew.
But what makes the job very important is the compliance of rules and regulations which are made by the International Maritime Organisation.
In truth, a modern day sailor, deck or engine, has the greatest and most enormous task of executing the regulations alone, as made by the IMO, the company and the government authorities.
Ships undergo ‘surveys’ and ‘inspection’ almost every month, nomatter what port of the world they are, to ensure that the regulations are being complied. The list of regulations is so exhaustive that putting a good-luck locket on your neck, to proper full-functioning of all LSA/FFA is “regulated”. The ship’s charterers are also bound to “vet” the ship before employing ‘her’ to carry the cargo.(BTW, a ship is treated as a female in English Language). This is because, if the petroleum cargo leaks out to sea water, then, in foreign countries where the beaches are so scenic, it becomes big public out-cry. And then, the charterer can be made to pay for the ‘environmental damages’ which can soar to amounts like 4.2 billion USD. In fact, the world’s most expensive environmental lawsuit is from shipping industry, where the charterer, the Exxon, has suffered this much damage and have virtually gone bankrupt after one of their ships leaked from 10000tons of crude oil in Alaska.
Also, as the IMO suggestion, the ‘limitation of liability’ for such lawsuits in desired to be fixed to order like 200million SDR,(a SDR is world’s theoretical currency, which does not fluctuate through the Stock Markets). This is so big a figure that India has refused to be a party to this suggestion as our entire national eoonomy will crash down in paying the damages, should one single merchant ship leak the petroleum oil.!
But, in turn, India has agreed to be a part of the Fund Convention and Civil Liability convention to deal with environment disasters caused by crude oil leakages from merchant ships. In this, the cost of clean-up of sea water is paid by the country held responsible. The affected(aggrieved parties) like the Fishermen, beach-tourism industries, can be dealt later.
The job of merchant mariner is this ‘regulated’ scenario is so bad that people have started to quit sailing, to work even for paltry amounts, on shore. I personally feel extremely stressed when at work on my ship.
Most land-lubbers think that a ship’s job is all about navigating the ship. But the fact is that navigation is not as important as the cargo handling. Navigation is looked after by Second Officer, while Cargo is looked after by the Chief Officer, which is the next promotion of Second Officer. One can understand what that means.
Having undergone the lessons of nautical astronomy, required for ships navigation, and *lighter lessons* of - electronics related to ship’s equipment, physics required for ship’s cargo loading, deeper lessons of maritime legislation, a mariner is quite an ‘educated’ and ‘intelligent’ person. Additionally, he has the experience of personnel management, working with a multi-national crew, executing hi-tension legislations, insight into a very important leg of Logistics and Supply-Chain, Communication, Administration and high-table decision-making. That is the reason why the profession of mariner has been agreed for a Bachelor’s degree in nautical science.
Having travelled through different countries and cultures, a mariner is sometimes also repository of the travel wisdom. Owing to professional training, he can sometimes have keen interest in the environmental issues, the diplomatic relations (intiated into through his duties of Ship security officer, and visit to various countries like Iraq, Nigeria), Industrial decrees( factorial status Safety Officer), and knowledge of world history, political science, cultures and traditions.
The training of mariner is also regulated by an IMO legislation called the STCW( standards for training and certification of watch-keeping(of Mariners) ). The STCW categorises the ranks of Master, Chief Mate, Ch Engg,and 1st Engg as “management level” ranks; the ranks of Second mate, Third mate,(and corresponding Engine Dept ranks) as “operational level” rank; and, the crew as “support level”. The medical standards, the academic standards and everything required to be a mariner of what rank are given there in. India is also a party to this ‘convention’ of the IMO, the most recent STCW convention in force being the ‘STCW-95’.
In India, the convention is implemented through the wing of Ministry of Shipping called the Directorate General of Shipping (the DGS). The exam conducting body of the DGS is called the Mercantile Marine Department(the MMD), which is headed by two surveyors, the nautical and the chief engineer. The academic function of teaching is looked after by LBS-CAMSAR(Lal Bahadur Shastri College of Advance Maritime Studies and research, located at Bhayculla in Mumbai). This is the only govt college for the preparing examination syllabus. Other govt and private colleges can only conduct the classroom teaching, to help people gain access to maritime education at places near-by to their homes,(Or at their convenience). These are, TS Chanakya(Mumbai, for Deck Dept only), MERI(Kolkata, for Engg Dept only), TS Rehman( private,Mumbai), The MTI( of SCI,a psu, Mumbai), the ARI(private, N Delhi), FOSMA(private, N Del), NIPM(govt, Chennai), IIPM(govt, Kolkata), TS Jawahar(Private, Mumbai).
Not all these colleges conduct all the classes.
The ARI, in New Delhi, is the most popular college for the north Indians.(near PVR Saket in delhi)
The highest technical ranks in the government for a Captain and a Chief Engineer are – Nautical Advisor to the GOI, and the Chief Surveyor to the GOI , respectively. The other subordinate ranks are called the nautical-surveyor and engine-surveyor. These all are governed by an Act of the Parliament, called the Merchant Shipping Act 1958.
Imagine what the people think! It’s all for high money to some poor grade of people!
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