How to become a Bosun in Merchant Navy ?
Bosun is the boss of the deck crew of a Merchant Navy ship.
Bosun comes under Chief Officer and his job is to follow the orders given to him by Chief Officer and to get the work done from the deck crew.
Bosun assists chief officer with mooring operations, anchor operations, chipping & painting operation on the deck, accommodation cleaning, garbage segregation and pilot operations.
On some ships where there will be no Pump man, bosun carries out the Pump man duties also.
Bosun is not a watch keeper and normally works in day work that is from morning 7 to evening 6. Bosun is available on call in emergency.
There will be only one Bosun present on a ship.
If you want to become a Bosun in Merchant Navy, you have to do The General Purpose (GP) Rating Course.
Course Duration and Eligibility Criteria :
The General Purpose (GP) Rating Course is 6 months course.
Candidates with a minimum of 40 % marks in 10th Standard from a recognized Board with Science, Mathematic as subjects and also have a minimum of 40 % marks in English language either in 10th, 12th or diploma / degree exam can apply for this course.
The candidate should age between 17.5 to 25 years at the time of commencement of the course.
The candidate should be medically fit, the medical tests will be carried out by the DG Shipping approved doctor at the time of admission.
Course fees :
The General Purpose (GP) Rating Course fees varies from institute to institute.
The total course fees will range between 2,00,000 – 3,50,000 rupees.
Top Colleges in India :
- BP Marine Academy, Navi Mumbai.
- Mumbai Maritime Training Institute, Mumbai.
- NUSI Maritime Academy, Goa.
- AMET University, Chennai.
- Coimbatore Marine College, Coimbatore.
- TS Rahaman, Mumbai.
- Yak Educational Trust, Mumbai.
- The Great Eastern Institute of Maritime Studies, Mumbai.
- Maritime Education Training and Research Institute, West Bengal.
- UV Patel College of Engineering, Gujarat.
Career Path :
After passing the GP rating course, the candidate will join a merchant navy ship as a Ordinary Seaman or OS and will get promoted to the Able Seaman or AB after gaining appropriate experience.
AB will get recommendations from Captain and Chief Officer and will eventually get promoted to the Bosun.
Please note that the promotional criteria may differ from company to company.
The Bosun’s contract duration will be (9 +/- 1) months. But there are some companies who started offering (6 +/- 1) months contracts.
