A Guide to Merchant Navy Officer Ranks
The field of merchant navy involves a certain order of hierarchy with the seafarers holding different ranks on ships. This ranking system ensures smooth coordination of on board operations and promotes proper management strategies. Being a line of work that requires a very high degree of professionalism wherein lax performance can result in drastic consequences, the hierarchy is essential to an economically viable model for shipboard operations with a shore based support framework.
The nomenclature of merchant navy ranking system is universally accepted by shipping companies and commercial vessels around the world. The ranks and responsibilities that come with it are somewhat similar across the whole industry with minor changes in names and duties assigned to specific positions varying among shipping companies and the system of nomenclature they follow. As mentioned above, essentially it is almost all the same.
In general, the ranking system on merchant vessels in mainly divided into following categories:
- Deck Department
- Engine Department
- Catering Department
The bridge of a vessel is a hub that is fitted with critical equipment for the safe navigation and watch keeping of the merchant ship. Owing to the advanced and specific nature of the bridge equipment, a requisite skill set is imperative for an individual to control all the equipment and thereby safely navigate the ship. Seafarers under the deck department of the ship are vested with the responsibility of managing ship navigation, along with handling cargo operations and berthing instruments present on the deck of the ship.
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- 10 Important Jobs Deck Cadets Have To Perform On board Ships
Similarly, seafarers working in the ship’s engine room fall under the engine department. This mainly include marine engineers and ratings responsible for operation and maintenance of ship’s machinery. The engine room houses the part of the ship that fuels/propels the vessel altogether and needless to say, a specific set of skills is essential to the engine room personnel as well.
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- What are the Responsibilities of Chief Engineer Under SOLAS?
The third department, or the catering department, is responsible for preparation of meals and general housekeeping for crew and passengers. The number of people employed in this department (which is under the purview of the Master, as with everything else) varies among ships and obviously, a passenger ship will have far more catering staff than a cargo ship owing to the number of people that need to be serviced.
A vessel thus requires a definite system of merchant navy ranks that would enable the distribution of assignments in a professional and formal manner.
The Captain (or Master) of the ship is the final authority of the ship and is the highest rank that one can achieve onboard. He shoulders total responsibility and oversees all shipboard operations. The Captain is in command of a merchant ship at all times and regulates the proper daily transactions and handles the legal affairs on maritime issues. In the unlikely event that the Master is not present on board, the Chief Mate is assumed to be interim in charge for shipboard operations.
- Chief Officer/Mate
- Second Officer/Mate
- Third Officer/Mate
- Deck Cadets
Deck Rating (non-officers)
- Bosun (head of the rating staff)
- Welder/Fitter (this rank on board renders his services to both the deck as well as the engine department)
- Able Bodied Seaman (AB)
- Ordinary Seaman (OS)
- Trainee OS
Chief Officer / First Mate: Chief officer occupies the second responsible position after the Captain of the vessel. He is the executive head of the deck department and executes the order of the Master at the operational level (although the rank itself is a more managerial position). He supervises the vessel’s crew and looks after the various deck operations which include, but not limited to the daily on goings of the deck as per the work schedule as well as the cargo operations to be carried out while in port.
