How to join Merchant Navy in Pakistan in 2022

Hello friends, Today, I’m going to answer a question I’ve been avoiding for quite a while.

The first is regarding what the Merchant Navy is.

The second is on how to join the Merchant Navy.

The third is about if it’s worth going into at all.

In this article, I am going to answer all three questions.

So, let’s start.

So, coming to the first question, i.e., What is the Merchant Navy?

Let me try to explain it as simply as I can. Basically, you must have seen airforce planes but at the same time commercial planes for carrying cargo and passengers.

Now, those commercial airplanes; we call them airplanes. We call them commercial airlines.

Airforce planes are called fighter jets, fighter airplanes, air force airplanes.

It is the same way with the navy. In the profession called the Navy; basically, those people have those kinds of vessels used for war, for defending countries.

But at the same time, we have other types of vessels that, while they may not be used in war but take your cargo, passengers, from one part of the world to the other part of the world this other part of the world. This other segment of those vessels that are actually carrying only the cargo and passengers is called the Merchant Navy.

Then comes the second question regarding how to join the Merchant Navy.

I’m particularly going to talk about Pakistan in this segment but I’m going to touch the Indian side as well about how it’s done there.

So talking of Pakistan, you have to have an F.Sc, that is 10 plus 2 in India and it should be F.Sc Pre-Engineering Your Pre-Engineering marks plus your NTS test marks, i.e., National Testing Service will be tallied, then an aggregate of both marks will determine a merit list.

Where is this merit list going to be? It’s going to be at the Pakistan Marine Academy, you’re supposed to apply for admission at the Pakistan Marine Academy.

One is called the engineering branch and the other is called the nautical branch.

So once all of that merit list is made, and then keeping in view your preferences at the time of applying you will be assigned a branch.

branches but at the same time some of them can later switch on also or some of them (the applicants) to they will be allotted the branches that they actually did not apply for.

So some of them can be adjusted later on, some of them cannot.

How to join Merchant Navy in Pakistan

How to join Merchant Navy

First, Pakistan Marine Academy was affiliated with the University of Karachi, now it’s associated with the NED University. The degree I received was the B.Sc maritime studies that are Bachelor’s in Sciences and Maritime studies The degree available today is the Associate Degree in Ship Management or at the NED University.

Once you have this degree and once you pass out from the Pakistan Marine Academy, you receive an SSP, i.e., Seaman’s Service Book other than that. You have to apply for courses that the PMA itself offers.

these are the basic courses required for joining a ship. So, after two years of rigorous training, which includes physical and mental training, and of course, your studies. After that, it’s time to apply to shipping companies.

Let me also highlight that for all of these procedures, you have to be medically fit as well.

If you’re not medically fit, you can’t join the Merchant Navy, you can’t even join the Pakistan Marine Academy, If by any chance, you make it in, all of your documentation will keep tabs on you, and in case you’re not able to pass the medical the documentation will stop.

In that case, this type of education may go to waste.

That’s the problem with this branch and profession, if, for any reason, in the middle, you stop somewhere, or you don’t join the ship or you decide that you have to do something else; then you’ll have to start from zero.

This type of education is a very very targeted kind of education it’s only meant for vessels.

On land, engineers can work in powerhouses and all different sectors but unfortunately for the people who have opted for the nautical department they can really not go anywhere.

so that is one thing you have to keep in mind.

If we talk about Indian seafarers, they have other opportunities as well.

They don’t have to go to university or any institute to get a proper Bachelor’s in Sciences degree, they have institutes there that offer basic courses with 6-9 month diplomas, so they can join shipping companies.

So they have a slightly different system over there but the final procedure is exactly where they have to have all the basic courses to join.

of they have to have an SSB, of course, that’s going to be an Indian SSB in that course. That’s when, when again they have to follow the same procedure and they have to apply it to all the shipping companies as well. One more thing boys ask me in the comments is what eyesight is required.

Well, ideally, it should be 6/6, but if that isn’t the case, you can still consider the engineering department. At least for training purposes and once you join the ship there won’t be any issues in case you have weak eyesight, It shouldn’t be too weak. If your eyesight is exceptionally weak, you may not be able to enter this profession.

For details, you can always consult their website and all the details you can find it there, i.e., Pakistan Marine Academy and other institutes like in India, wherever you wish to apply.

There’s one condition that might not allow you in this field, i.e., colorblindness. If you are colorblind because especially in the nautical department, you have to know and you have to be able to differentiate between green lights and red lights.

If you can’t do that, you are unfit for service on board a vessel. Now comes the final, and I think the most important question: It’s “Should you join the Merchant Navy or not?” Don’t get me wrong here, the job by itself, and if you ask me, it’s awesome. It’s awesome by all means.

But the problem starts when you have to actually get inducted into the Merchant Navy. When you have to actually enter the field. I know so many boys in Pakistan and India that received their degrees, have had their parents spend lacs on them, and they’re unable to join the vessel.

The chances are slightly better in India because they have a lot of shipping companies. They have better chances of going on board. But in Pakistan’s case, it is really bad. Basically, the downfall of Pakistan’s shipping industry started back in the 70s when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto went ahead and nationalized all the then companies.

The companies ran away practically from Pakistan Obviously, the fleet was large back then, with lots of ships to go around, I think there were more than 100 ships or something like that. And at the time, there weren’t enough people for those ships.

I’ve sailed with masters and chief engineers, who had no such degrees relevant to their fields when they started out.

How to join Merchant Navy in Pakistan

They had only studied until the 11th or 12th grade. That was the climate back then. But now the conditions are, going through all of this rigorous training spending so much of their parent’s money, and getting really a quality degree and quality education The 2 years they study at academies really is quality education that education still comes in handy.

Despite all this, people are unemployed. The job shortage problem started around 2002.

Companies started eliminating job positions, this was around the time 9/11 had happened, it gave us a bad name.

The real downfall started when democracy made it into Pakistan.

Because unfortunately, the people who came into power during that era, weren’t interested in where the shipping industry was headed, I don’t want to go into politics. I don’t want to point fingers but trust me it felt like there was no ministry back then.

We had a meeting last year with Ali Zaidi Sahab, who’s a Shipping Minister now, I highlighted a point for him. I asked him to bring down the strength of graduates.

During my time only around 30 would graduate, but now, there are 75 on the engineering side and 75 on the tech site but the bad thing is, as the strength of candidates is improving, the jobs are actually not improving.

PNSC is in slumps it’s in really bad shape just like PIA.

Foreign companies aren’t really hiring, the job openings are scarce.

I know a lot of young men who’ve been waiting for 3-4 years just to join their first ship.

So you can really imagine the amount of agony, they are going through. And at the same time, I know a few of my Indian fellows also whose relatives message me, asking me for guidance.

the situation isn’t much different there either. But it is much better.

You’re bound to find an opportunity in one place or another.

Once you start working, then it’s good. But the problem is starting work. How? Nobody’s thinking about it. You only see Merchant Navy ads,

if you’ve seen my videos it seems fascinating, I know that but if you’re able to get an idea from this, let me tell you that my own brother, who wanted to join the Merchant Navy, when he completed his F.SC back in the year 2012, approximately eight years ago from now I stopped him.

I said to him “My joining is enough, don’t join the Merchant Navy, do something else.” And thankfully he did something else and he works as a civil engineer in Australia so that is good.

So, I hope it’s convincing enough for you to know I didn’t let my brother in. And when anyone asks me for advice, I tell them “If you can do something else, then do something else.” But if you know for sure that you’ll be boarding a ship after graduating, you have a chance.

But that chance is unfortunately not extended to all of the candidates only a few people get that chance. If you are not sure about whether somebody can really get you in the company or not then avoid it altogether.

So with that unfortunate and very sad sentence, I think you must have received some information today I hope I answered a lot of your questions, too.

in this way, you can join the merchant navy in Pakistan

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Take good care of yourselves, remember me in your prayers.

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