The Chief is the Chief Engineer. The Mate is the Chief Mate.
The 2nd and 3rd Engineers are not required to have any kind of Tankerman endorsement - PIC or Engineer.
At my company, the Chief Engineer and the 1st Engineer are required to have Tankerman PIC , or, alternatively, Tankerman Engineer. The Tankerman Engineer endorsement only requires that you have taken the course and be on a tanker for 90 days. It does not require loads and discharges and the other things that the PIC endorsement does.
The junior engineers can very easily get the Tankerman Engineer endorsement. I will not sign that letter, because I am not an engineer, and to be honest, it’s not my department. Most Chiefs at my company have no idea what their guys are talking about when they come to them looking for the letter, 1 hour before they sign off, after they leave my office with me telling them that I will not sign that letter. One Chief gave a guy some bunker dates written down on a post-it note and said “here you go.” That’s a different issue. If, however, they get that letter and the endorsement, they can sail alllllll the way up to Chief Engineer.
What kind of engineers am I working with? MEBA, union, engineers. They may never work on a tanker again. Or they might stick around for a while. Who knows. But chastising a 3rd for not getting his Tankerman PIC, when to do so would probably break his work/rest hours, is like chastising me for not having a Fast Rescue Boat endorsement, when my ship doesn’t have a Fast Rescue Boat.
That’s not what I said. I said I’m not going to call down to the engine room after dinner and remind the 2nd to be on deck at 0300 once we get along side to assist with hooking up the arms and then go around with the gauger, come inside for the Pre-Transfer Conference, and then stick around until the terminal is ready to start cargo.
If an engineer comes to me when they get on, and explain that they would like a PIC letter, I will very clearly lay out the requirements for them to get one. Everyone knows what time we’re getting to the dock. Everyone knows that after we get to the dock we will start cargo in a few hours. Everyone has an alarm clock. It’s simple - show up and put in the work, and I will sign the letter.
But, they don’t need it. So they don’t do it. Not my problem.