Third engineer
| Highest | $7,150 / mo · Switzerland |
|---|---|
| Experience | 2–4 yrs |
| Degree | Required |
| First paycheck | 3 to 4 years of academy study and cadetship + CoC exam |
Pay in the destination countries
Monthly, in US dollars. Each country is an Imora admission package — open one for that route's fees, language requirement and deadline.
| Country | Monthly |
|---|---|
| SwitzerlandIELTS 6.5 · CHF 0.9–8k | $7,150max |
| Hong KongIELTS 6.0–6.5 · HK–200k | $6,450 |
| SingaporeIELTS 6.5 · SGD 18–35k | $6,450 |
| United KingdomIELTS 6.0–7.0 · £11–38k | $6,450 |
| NorwayIELTS 6.0–6.5 · NOK 130–260k | $6,400 |
| United StatesTOEFL 80–100 · $10–70k | $6,250 |
What does the day look like?
Around 75% of your day is manual maintenance and compliance: disassembling and cleaning heavy fuel and lube oil centrifugal purifiers (Alfa Laval, GEA Westfalia), testing oily water separators (OWS) with 15 ppm bilge alarms under MARPOL Annex I, manually sounding fuel and sludge tanks, and logging equipment hours into planned maintenance systems (PMS) like AMOS or TM Master. Only 25% matches the cinematic image: troubleshooting running auxiliary diesel generators (Wärtsilä, MAN B&W), diagnosing vibrations, and maneuvering engines during port arrivals.
On conventional watchkeeping schedules, you stand 8 hours of watch per 24-hour cycle (such as 12:00-16:00 and 00:00-04:00) plus 2 to 4 hours of daily maintenance. On Unattended Machinery Space (UMS) vessels, routine day work runs 08:00 to 17:00, paired with a rotating 24-hour duty shift every 3 to 4 days where night alarms ring directly into your cabin. Contracts run 7 days a week, 30 days a month onboard. In tropical zones, engine room ambient temperatures reach 40 to 45 degrees Celsius, with noise levels of 85 to 105 dB requiring permanent hearing protection. MLC 2006 limits work to a maximum of 14 hours in any 24-hour period and 72 hours per 7-day period, with mandatory 10 hours of rest.
Where does this lead?
Next step up
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