Experience Posted by participant :
The list of reasons given to join merchant navy are not factually right.
1. the salary is not high as you only earn for the period u are at sea. when you are no home u dont earn anything. the spread of ur earning is almost same as the shore
2. adventure and site seeing has become a thing of past. Loading discharging rates are very high and vessel hardly have time in port
3. the pressure from the profession is so much that most of the people dont go out now days. remember and offence in shipping is treated as a criminal offense
4. As it is mentioned there is no much to study is also wrong. You have to continously be in touch with new things and new regulation need the courses to be done
5. last thing in this world people are worried about is the seafares. let it Somalia or any other country who arrested the seafares with out any reason. nothing has been done and nothing will be done in future
6.i have been sailing from last 14 yrs and sincerly recommend people not to join sea. The pay at sea is for the life people lead not for the job they do.
These are posts /experiences shared by others. Use your discretion while choosing your career.
Experience posted by another participant:
Do not get carried away by tall claims of salary. Its simply not worth it. Few additional points I would like to add is as follows:
1. You have to spend lot of money (at least INR 1,50,000/- (depending on the course) to do a course on “pre sea training”. After spending for this course you will then have to hunt for a job. Unless you are well connected you can just about forget it.
2. You will be spending more money every time you have to appear for exams/ course etc.
3. Family members are not covered under company’s insurance policy as are most of the employees working in shore office, banks, factories etc.
4. You are also not covered by insurance when you sign off from the ship.
5. Some times ship stays at anchor for a month or so & during this period you are stuck on board as companies are reluctant to provide you with launch service to cut back on costs. During this period even water is a scarcity & so water is rationed.
6. If you are working on a super tanker then only time you are likely to step on land (after you have joined a vessel) is after you have signed off & on your way back home. (which may be 4 to 6 months later.
There are probably many other reasons which I cannot think of for the moment. Most important ones I am sure have been covered. I am i this industry for about 30 years & I would not recommend this profession to any one.
These are posts /experiences shared by others. Use your discretion while choosing your career.
Courtesy - marineinsight.com