Officer Salaries on Ships: Master, Chief Officer, Watch Officers, Chief Engineer

A merchant ship's crew splits into two departments plus catering and hotel staff.

Deck department, also called the navigation branch: master, chief officer, second officer, third officer. Below them come the bosun and the deck ratings.

Engine department: chief engineer, second engineer, third and fourth engineer. The electro-technical officer (ETO) and the refrigeration engineer sit outside this line, on their own track.

The master answers for the whole ship: safety, cargo, crew, flag-state and port-state requirements. The chief engineer reports to the master, but inside the engine room his word is final, and in practice the two negotiate rather than give each other orders. The full rank structure and how each position fits into the chain of command is covered separately in ranks and positions on a ship.

The STCW Convention — the 1978 convention with the 2010 Manila Amendments, in force since 1 January 2012 — splits officers into two levels:

• operational level: officer in charge of a navigational watch, regulation II/1, and officer in charge of an engineering watch, regulation III/1;
• management level: master and chief officer, regulation II/2; chief engineer and second engineer, regulation III/2 for ships with main propulsion power of 3,000 kW or more, regulation III/3 for power between 750 and 3,000 kW.

The split isn't paperwork. It decides which courses are mandatory and which pay bracket a seafarer falls into.

Third officer is the first officer rank: watchkeeping, lifesaving and firefighting equipment, part of the ship's paperwork.

Second officer is the navigator in the classic sense. Chart work, chart corrections, passage planning, ECDIS, often the medical chest as well.

Chief officer is the second-in-command. Cargo operations, stability, running the deck crew, the ship's schedules. Day-to-day life on board usually rests on this person.

Rates from two independent sources, US dollars per month:

The two columns aren't disagreeing, they're measuring different things. The ITF Uniform TCC scale is a collective-agreement floor, not the market; it has applied since 1 January 2026 to flag-of-convenience ships and bundles basic wage, guaranteed overtime, and leave pay. The Maritime Zone figures are drawn from more than 100,000 verified job postings over 12 months.

The gap between second and chief officer is wider than the gap between third and second. That's the price of moving from operational to management level.

Master's pay has the widest spread on the ship. The reason is straightforward: a master isn't responsible for one area of work but for the whole vessel, safe navigation, cargo worth tens of millions, the crew, and relations with port authorities. A master's mistake costs a company more than anyone else's, and the pay reflects that.

Under the 2026 ITF Uniform TCC scale, a master earns USD 6,272 a month in total: basic wage 3,110, guaranteed overtime 2,310, leave pay 726. The master's coefficient on this scale is 3.369 times the able seaman first-class rate.

By Maritime Zone's market figures, a master on a bulker earns around USD 9,724, on a container ship 9,546, on a heavy-lift vessel 9,835, and on a VLCC up to 14,669. The one-and-a-half-times difference between a bulker and a tanker pays for extra qualification and for the level of scrutiny in vetting inspections, not for nerve.

For the full path from watchkeeping officer to master, and how much sea time each level requires, see the separate guide on how to become a ship captain.

The logic mirrors the deck department, but pay depends more heavily on the type and age of the plant.

Fourth and third engineers stand watches, service auxiliary machinery, keep logs. Second engineer is the working head of the department: planned maintenance, the main engine, splitting tasks across the engine crew. Chief engineer answers for the ship's technical operation as a whole, the spares budget, readiness for inspections, and compliance with environmental rules.

This is where the contract floor and the market diverge most clearly. On the ITF scale, a second engineer earns exactly the same as a second officer, while in job postings the rate is nearly double. The reason is a shortage: BIMCO and the International Chamber of Shipping project a 2026 shortfall of 39,100 certified officers against a surplus of roughly 56,890 ratings, with the industry needing 113,735 additional officers by 2030.

This is a separate career track, not a rung on the engine-department ladder.

The electro-technical officer, ETO, entered the STCW Convention as a standalone qualification with the 2010 Manila Amendments, regulation III/6; regulation III/7 covers electro-technical ratings. The ETO answers for electrical equipment, automation, and control systems. A modern ship with electronically controlled main engines doesn't sail without one.

Maritime Zone puts ETO pay at around USD 5,889 on a bulker, 6,116 on a container ship, 7,068 on a VLCC, and up to 7,401 on an AHTS supply vessel. On the 2026 ITF Uniform TCC scale, the Electrical Engineer line sits at the same rate as second officer and second engineer: USD 3,304 in total.

A refrigeration engineer is needed on ships carrying chilled or frozen cargo: reefer vessels and some container ships. No public aggregate pay data for this rank exists, so no figure is given here. Check specific crewing offers instead.

Ship type. The fastest way to raise income without changing rank: Maritime Zone data shows the gap between a bulker and a VLCC tanker running up to one and a half times.

Tonnage and engine power. A certificate is tied to ship size: deck officers' certificates are limited by gross tonnage, engineers' by main propulsion power, under STCW regulations III/2 and III/3. An unlimited certificate opens more vacancies, and that matters while sea time is still being logged.

Certificates beyond the mandatory minimum. Tanker courses, specialisation on specific systems, simulator hours. Many shipowners look past whether a certificate exists to how many hours were actually logged.

English. At management level it's a requirement, not an edge: negotiations with port authorities, inspections, reporting, incident reviews. Marlins and CES tests are part of the entry screening at most companies.

First, how responsibility splits: certificates of competency are issued by the state; a training centre provides the STCW courses and certificates needed to obtain and revalidate one.

For the deck track, the basic set of courses centres on a few areas:

• bridge resource management (management level / operational level) — organising the watch and bridge team coordination;
• ship handling and maneuvering (SHM) — what's needed at management level.

The first runs three days, the second four; both are available in person and remotely.

From there the set diverges: part of the training is tied to ship type, part to a specific shipowner's requirements, and it's assembled for the next rank up, not stockpiled in advance. What a training centre covers is listed in the course catalogue for seafarers; the certificate itself is issued by the state.