A friend of mine just finished his Chief Mate classes sent in his seatime and got a leetter back that he needs 6 months on a conventional vessel. He currently works on a DP2 Rig . The letter stated that it was a MODU and he needed 6 months more on a conventional ship . Anybody have any suggestions?
Go to a drillship. I may be in a similar situation once I get my Chief Mate…I have seen it go both ways though.
Hmm [B][I]interesting[/I][/B]. The same thing happened to me, except this was for my Master’s license and the issue was time-and-a-half seatime. It was also well before the NMC .
Here is the little I do know:
I have written a few articles on “diversity of experience” in which I stated there was value in having served on different types of ships. I questioned whether a captain who had served on one type of ship his entire career was as qualified as a person who sailed aboard various types of vessels.
The problem is two fold:
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How many times do you need to anchor a vessel before you truly “get it”? For example… some MODU captain’s have more fingers on their right hand than anchoring experience.
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An unlimited license is good on all types of vessels. For example, if you served on tankers, container ships and MODU’s then you could probably handle a Ro-Ro. But if you only have MODU (or tanker, bulker, etc) experience then switching vessel types might not be a good idea.
I only mention this because the idea was not mine. “Diversity of Experience” came up while I was fighting for my seatime as something the NMC was discussing internally. It came up again in discussions with the USCG after a drillship lost it’s engine room 2 years ago and they found out the captain, a licensed Master Unlimited, had not served on any ships other than the one he burned.
There is a possible flip side of the coin. In the discussions I’ve had with CG personnel, it was mentioned that people may be “rewarded” for having sailed on a variety of ships with extra sea-time.
Keep us posted GoMariner!
Would a Drillship be considered a conventional Ship ? I am working on a DP3 rig as Chief Mate and trying to get seatime for master .Will I have to go on a drill ship for 6 months ? Or can I stay on a DP rig ?
Question!
I am sailing as a Chief Mate on a DP-3 semi working torwds my masters unlimited. I have sailed on tankers, cruise ships, and break bulk ships as 3 & 2 mate . All my C/m time in on the dp-3 semi. Will i have any problem trying to upgrade to my masters?
BR,
Jonathan