Are you one of those thousands of youth weighing options right now for the future of your life as a professional? If yours is an adventurous spirit and you have the thirst to explore the world, climbing up the career ladder in one of the world’s most thriving industries at the same time, Merchant Navy is your best option. 90% of the world’s global trade is still carried out via sea routes and behind the screen is this massive industry of maritime trade that literally runs the world from the sea. One significant incident that reminded most of us ashore of the importance of maritime trade and our dependence on it, was the recent fuel shortage in the country where the entire country was made to eagerly wait for the arrival of one important ship, ‘Neverska Lady’, which carried the fuel supply to end the shortage.
Sri Lanka’s maritime industry is taking giant strides in growth and this is also creating tremendous career opportunities for the Sri Lankan youth both at sea and ashore alike. However, there’s still relatively little awareness about these opportunities as the majority of the Sri Lankan youth seek careers in commonly sought after fields such as management, medicine or IT.
Merchant navy profession is widely regarded as one of the most lucrative career paths that also offer great opportunities for excitement and adventure for the youth. Employment and career success is guaranteed as the industry demand for skilled professionals continues to soar ever so high and unlike any other profession, one can reach the pinnacle of the career i.e. to become a ship’s captain or a chief engineer earning a 7 digit salary, within a short period of time. As Sri Lanka’s maritime industry is expected to expand in unprecedented ways, Merchant Navy professionals are in high demand for a large number of shore based careers as well. For example, Navigation Officers have great shore based career opportunities as Harbor Pilots, Marine Superintendents, Shipping Administrators, Port State Controllers, Harbour Masters and Maritime Educators. For Marine Engineers great shore based career opportunities exist in many areas such as Ships & Industrials Survey, Maintenance Engineering at star class hotels, power plants & ship repairing and construction.
However, it is also important to start your career from the right place as theoretical training, knowledge and most importantly the practical training onboard ships are essential for uninterrupted career progress in the merchant navy. As a Navigation Cadet Officer or Engineering Cadet Officer, one needs to complete the phases of theoretical and practical training on time without any delays to climb up the ladder successfully.
Mercmarine Training, established in 1986, is Sri Lanka’s first privately owned merchant navy training institute and has been leading the country’s maritime education ever since. Mercmarine Training was initially launched as the training arm of the globally renowned maritime giant Mercmarine Group, to fulfill the requirements within the group and later developed to produce world class seamen to meet the demands of an entire industry.
Mercmarine Training derives its’ unique strengths as a maritime trainer from its’ mother company, Mercmarine Group which has over 100 years of experience operating in the businesses of ship owning, ship management and crew management. This gives Mercmarine Training the ability to keep pace with advances in shipping technology and educate Cadets using the most innovative training solutions in the industry. The Institute is the ideal technologically advanced training center to help prospective seafarers apply their acquired skills to the real-world challenges of the marine environment.
Mercmarine Training is geared in training the officer cadets uninterruptedly to sail the world as Merchant Navy Officers. The institute achieve this by fulfilling the two most important requirements of the cadet training i.e. uncompromised shore based training and the opportunity for practical sea training on board a ship without any delays. The opportunity to sail on board a ship for practical training is essential to complete the studies as a Merchant Navy Officer and to obtain the Certificate of Competency (COC) as required by the Director General of Merchant Shipping (DGMS). Providing this opportunity is the responsibility of the training institute and Mercmarine Training holds unparalleled reputation in this regard.
Mercmarine Training’s lecture panel consists of some of the industry’s most experienced professionals who take pride in sharing and presenting their knowledge using the most technologically advanced equipment. Many of Mercmarine Training’s lecturers are Master Mariners & Chief Engineers with extensive sailing experience. As the forerunning maritime training institute, Mercmarine Training is aware that the key to successful training is based on how current your sailing experience is and for this reason the institute utilizes the services of Master Mariners & Chief Engineers who frequently sail in between their lecturing stints at the institute.
MERCMARINE Training is an approved maritime training institute by the Director General Merchant Shipping Sri Lanka (DGMS) and offers Certifications issued by the DGMS which are globally recognized. The institute sets very high standards for academics and professional development for the students and due to this cadets at Mercmarine Training are qualified to pursue their higher studies even abroad.
Those who wish to obtain more information regarding the courses and the scholarship program can contact Mercmarine Training via e-mail: apply@mercmarine.net or by telephone: 011 7476100/0769 387477.
