Grooming of the Merchant Navy Cadets -3

MN (Merchant Navy) cadets are partly trained ashore and partly at sea for their examinations leading to be certified Deck & Engineering officers on MN ships.

While the shore based training – the pre-sea training is imparted to groups or ‘batches’ the on-board training is increasingly given to the lone cadets. This is mainly because of the changing face of the MN economics, market trends and the ‘life boat’ capacities available.

Being placed on board as a lone cadet poses many challenges and brings many opportunities – both. The opportunities are in the complete absence of what was loosely termed as ‘ragging’ by the seniors of any kind and being alone to be looked after by the serving other officers and complement of the ship, having far better structured training curriculum, well defined IMO stages and contents of the Cadets’ training at sea (International Maritime Organisation) and the living conditions themselves. A well-defined time table for a Cadet’s stay on board was something not heard of in the earlier era. Cadets of current era plan their sea-time, their college studies and life as a whole which was all unthinkable just a few decades ago.

The Single Cadet on board at the same time needs motivation, supervision, mentoring, correct influence about professionalism. In these areas there are variances from ship to ship, company to company. What the society at large gets in the end of his/her training is a refined officer that is going to supervise and execute the navigational – engineering – port operational ‘watches’ on board!

What matters is how these Cadets groom to be those fine watch standing-MN-officers and take their ships on the oceans ably and safely all over the globe so that the rest of the world functions peacefully in what they are doing!   

To be continued ….

Safe sailings!