What is the Highest Salary of a Merchant Navy Officer 2022 ?

Latest salaries and Ranks of merchant Navy Officers in 2020 ?

5 min readApr 9, 2020

Merchant Navy is well known for its overwhelming salary right from 20th Century after which came into the limelight.

Merchant Navy is not just a job, it is an old lamp of genie which gives you a future to discover the whole world and along with it a salary in Dollars. At a very young age a person can see the world and visit many places which he could only think of visiting in his dreams

Along with this, it offers a salary in US Dollars which is nothing less than living a life extra ordinary.

Did you know that Merchant Navy Officers don’t have to pay taxes? Because they are considered NRIs.

This job provides a sense of responsibility at a young age. The officer will be responsible for the lives of thousands of people on a cruise ship, billons of dollars of cargo on Cargo ships.

Most important, he is solely responsible for steering the giant and one of the world’s largest moving machinery.

Ranks and Salaries

There are two different departments in Merchant Navy:

Navigational department
Engine department

These departments include various ranks of officers who get highly paid as compared to the jobs on land. The salaries can take a huge hike with every promotion depending on experiences and capabilities of the officer.

Let’s talk about the ranks and salaries of Officer in Merchant Navy of Navigational department and we will go from bottom to the top most in the hierarchy.

Deck Cadet

This is the rank from where the journey of becoming a Merchant Navy officer begins. This rank is also known as Under Training Navigating Officer. Here, the companies train their cadets to become the best of best officers.

They will become the sailors to safely navigate those enormous giant ships on vast oceans and seas.

Different companies offer their cadets a good salary to start their career with them.

The range of salary could be 500 to 800 US Dollars (35,000 to 56,000 INR) per month.

Additional Third Officer

It’s a new rank which has been introduced by the companies few years ago to reduce the work load on Chemical Tanker Ships. This is the first rank as an officer you join after getting certificate of competency license from Ministry of shipping.

This rank has its own excitement and responsibilities. As an officer on watch, he will maintain a solo navigation lookout for the first time in his career and will be responsible for the safety of a giant propelled structure worth billions of Dollars.

The range of salary could be 1400 to 1800 US Dollars (98,000 to 1.26 Lakhs INR) per month.

Third Officer

This rank onboard is responsible for the safety and maintenance of Life Saving Appliances (LSA) and Fire Fighting Appliances (FFA).

A Planned Maintenance System (PMS) has to be carried out of LSA and FFA epuipments by Third Officer as per the companies Safety Management System (SMS). Mostly he is also responsible for the Navigational watch.

The range of salary could be 2500 to 3200 US Dollars (1.75 to 2.24 lakhs INR) approx per month.

Second Officer

Second Officer is responsible for making a safe passage for the ship to safely Navigate it through deep oceans, rough seas, shallow waters and Narrow channels.

He is responsible for all the equipments installed on Navigational Bridge which are meant for Navigation.

He does appraisal of all the information from different admiralties, Navigational charts which could be necessary for making a safe passage and to steer a ship as per the companies order.

The range of salary could be 3800 to 4200 US Dollars (2.66 to 3 lakhs INR) approx per month.

Chief Officer

An officer who plays the most important role but does not come into limelight.

“Officer” word is just like any other suffix for him because a chief officer is also responsible for many more designations .

Ship Safety Officer
Ship Security Officer
Responsible for Complete cargo loading/ unloading operations
Responsible for Complete manintenance of LSA/FFA epuipments
Responsible for maintenance of cargo gears and loadline items.
Responsible for proper garbage segregation as per garbage management plan
Responsible for maintaining proper hygiene onboard for all the persons onboard
Deck Crew are under Chief Officer for the complete maintenance of the super moving floating structure.

Being Chief Officer is a stage at where the officer is carved under pressure and huge responsibilities to become a better sailor.

The range of salary could be 7000 to 10,500 US Dollars ( 4.90 to 7.35 lakhs INR) per month.

Captain

ALL I ASK IS A GAINT SHIP AND A STAR TO STEER HER BY

The word “CAPTAIN” is enough to discribe the meaning of its value and power.

As a Captain, officer is completely responsible for the safety of lives onboard, for the cargo onboard, for everything which could lead to any danger. He is the almighty of the ship and in a way a representative of ship’s owner.

The path to reach this position is a tough one. One has to go through various courses, different exams for certificate of competency. One has to prove one’s worth, capabilities and extremities of his knowledge to rule over the oceans.

Their is lot to say about this prefix but I think it will be unfair to the ruler of the oceans by revealing the taste of being a Captain.