Merchant Navy is a profession where the Cargo or goods are transported by ships, from one port to another in the same or different country. These cargo can be of various forms viz Coal, Cement etc. in bulk or equipments / devices in containers or even Disel, Petrol, LPG, LNG etc. each having a specific type of ship. These ships are sailed by Mariners. One thing to note here is that Merchant Navy is different from Navy and has nothing to do with military or war.
If you are confused in joining Merchant Navy or want to know more about the life onboard prior joining Merchant Navy, I strongly suggest you to read "A better Picture of the profession called Merchant Navy" and then decide yourself.
There are various Pre-sea Shipping Courses available for joining Merchant Navy in the 3 departments - Deck, Engine and Galley. Eligibilty for joining these Pre-sea courses are determined by DGS and depends on your qualification.
Our JOIN MERCHANT NAVY tab can help you. You can select your qualifications and the page will guide you with the DG approved Pre-Sea Courses. Once you have decided which department you want to join, you can click the Course name and get more details about the Course, its duration and the promotion sequence.
Once you have decided which Shipping course to join, you can check our MARINE COURSES tab or list of the DG approved Marine College in India and contact them.
Our Web page will give the list of Pre-sea Courses you can join but to know more about those Pre-sea courses you need to register. On registration you will be able to know more details about the course, what rank you will join, the promotion sequence and few other informative links. We want to keep a track of the user who found this page helpful and request you to join us (register) and leave a feedback for our efforts.
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Every college has its own selection procedure for each Shipping Course. Government college like T.S.Chanakya, M.E.R.I. etc. select the candidates on the basis of IIT JEE rank and additionally schedule counseling and interviews.
List of Courses and Government Maritime Colleges selecting through IIT are :
* B. Sc. (Nautical Science - 3 Yrs) Degree at T. S. Chanakya
* B. Tech. (Marine Engineering - 4 Yrs) Degree at M.E.R.I., Kolkata
* B. Tech. (Marine Engineering - 4 Yrs) Degree at National Maritime Academy
* B. Sc. (Maritime Science - 3 Yrs Polyvalent) Degree at M.E.R.I., Mumbai.
For other private Maritime Colleges you may or may not need to fill IIT JEE depending on the college. There selection procedure differs with the Course you want to join and you need to confirm with the Maritime College.
Like I said before, depending on the Course you want to join and the College you are interested in joining, each have its own selection procedure. You can know about selection criteria by contacting those Maritime College personally.
Please check our MARINE COURSES tab or list of the DG approved Marine Colleges in India and their contact Information.
Few years back DG Shipping started Pre-sea course of 1 Year which is called DNS (Diploma in Nautical Science) in collaboration with IGNOU. With the commencement of DNS the previous pre-sea Course of 3 months duration was discontinued. This course was started for joining the Nautical side (deck department) and candidates would receive B. Sc. (Nautical Sciences) degree with this course which was missing previously.
Later Indian Maritime University (IMU) was established. Today IMU conducts all India level Common entrance test (CET) for this course and have replaced IGNOU for the certification. All candidates are required to go through this test for joining any Maritime College for DNS Course as well as GP Rating Course.
To know more details please follow :
www.dgshipping.com/dgship/final/notices/note21_2009_trg.htm
www.dgshipping.com/dgship/final/notices/trg_letter_imu_i.htm
It is very difficult to tell the "Best Maritime College" from various Merchant Navy Colleges, since each college have its own advantage and edge over the other. However DG Shipping have linked on their website a 3rd party Grading of the colleges latest of which can be downloaded from www.dgshipping.com/dgship/final/grading.htm .
The number of students placed / unplaced too need to be submitted by these colleges to DGS, however the bad news is that, that data is not yet Public !!!
The Directorate General of Shipping (DGS), India deals with implementation of shipping policy and legislation, promotion of Maritime education and Training, Examination and Certification of Merchant Navy Officers, approval to the training programmes conducted by various Training Institutions etc.
Indian Maritime University (IMU) has been established as a Central University under the Indian Maritime University Act, 2008 with effect from 14th November, 2008. The University is established at the national level to facilitate and promote maritime studies and research. The headquarters of the University is at Chennai with its campuses at Mumbai, Kolkata Chennai and Vishakhapatnam.
To know more details please follow :
www.dgshipping.com
www.imu.tn.nic.in
www.dgshipping.com/dgship/final/notices/trg_letter_imu_i.htm
Structured Shipboard Training Programme or SSTP is also known as Distance learning Program or DLP for deck cadets. This simply means that the Cadets need to complete a structured training programme on board ship when they join as trainee (cadet) on board. Cadets undergoing training needs to complete SSTP projects and assignments and send the same in due course of time. This helps in certain exemption of sea time and better practical training in more structured manner onboard.
To know more details please follow :
www.dgshipping.com/dgship/final/notices/note30_2002.htm
Sponsored cadets are candidates already selected by any Shipping Company. Shipping Companies frequently advertise for openings for cadets in their company and request for candidates to apply for the same. They have their own selection procedure and might include particular qualification, Interviews, Psychometric test etc. These advertisements can be found on regular basis mostly in premier English newspapers. Once the candidate is selected they are called the "Sponsored" candidates - This simply means that once they complete the Pre-Sea course successfully, the company will send them onboard company's ships for training / completing candidates sea-time for next promotion. Please note here that most companies do not pay for your Pre-Sea Course and will only pay you stipends once you join onboard.
Non Sponsored candidates will depend on the college to get employed in a company or have to search companies / ship by themselves to complete their sea-time.
RPSL stands for Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers License. All Manning Shipping Companies are required to have a DG approved RPSL Number issued to them.
To know more why this was needed and why you should sail with Agents / Marine Company with RPSL No. please go through these DG Shipping Circulars :
http://www.dgshipping.com/dgship/final/notices/crewcir2_2007.htm
http://www.dgshipping.com/dgship/final/notices/crewcir9_2007.htm
http://www.dgshipping.com/dgship/final/notices/crewcir4_2009.htm
As per DG Shipping Circular Indian Shipowners are not required to be registered under M.S. (Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers) Rules, 2005, when recruiting seafarers for placing them on their own vessels, provided they engage them directly through their own offices.
Merchant Navy is a demanding profession and requires technical training courses at regular intervals. Shipping training courses are numerous and categorised under various categories.
Pre-sea courses are training courses needed to be done prior joining sea for the first time while post-sea courses are courses done for promotion or upgradation and done primarily after actual sailing.
Modular courses are short duration courses generally required as per rules (STCW) and are mandatory while Value added courses are company specific and not mandatory.
Cadets undergoing SSTP are provided with Cadet Record Book or Training and Assessment Record book. This details the assignments to be completed and submitted by the candidates. This includes the structured training which the cadet is expected to undergo.
Please note as per DGS Circular 07 of 2005 all the required qualification certificate should be awarded by a recognized Board or from a college/ University recognized by AICTE / UGC / DEC.
List of the recognised board can be found at www.education.nic.in/boards.asp.
You can also find the list of Non-recognised board at www.ima-maritime.com/fake.htm.
As per DGS Order no: 2 of 2007 every Institute conducting pre-sea courses shall have an established quality system of the applicable ISO standard or equivalent.
They are not different !! Some company call the cadets with strange names and ranks hence this confusion arises. Cadets, TNO or Training Navigating officer, Trainee, TME or Trainee Marine Engineer, Junior Engineer/Officer mostly refers to cadets in their respective departments.