Top salaries on container ships

Automatic translation

The issue of the salary of a seafarer of any specialty always attracts public attention. It's no secret that seafarers receive salaries above average, and in many cases high. We have already considered in our articles the approximate difference in salaries among seafarers of different specialties, and now we will try to remember and clarify the salary situation on a specific type of vessel, namely a container ship.

The main factors

First of all, let's recall the main factors affecting the salary level of a seafarer of any specialty:

1. Position on the ship (it is natural that the captain will receive more conditional minder).
2. Fleet type (offshore or merchant).
3. Experience (the more experience, the higher the position and the higher the salary).
4. Citizenship (having an EU passport or American citizenship allows you to expect a salary at higher rates).
5. Loyalty of the shipowner company (depends directly on the company itself, however, many large shipowners have an additional payment for continuous work experience on their ships).
6. An employment contract (the conditions of employment and wages can be determined by it, if it is valid on the ship).
7. Communication (a rather controversial point that can only appear at the first stage - the interview. Theoretically, you can convince the shipowner that your experience and skills allow you to qualify for a higher payment under the contract).

Now let's go directly to the salary range. Container transportation has now become perhaps the most popular way of transporting goods all over the world. Naturally, the Master will have the highest salary on container ships. Looking at the vacancies currently available on one of the sites, we found that now there are practically no contracts with a captain's salary above 10,200 USD a month. However, back in 2019, mega-container ship captains (VLCCs), as well as chief mechanics on ships of this type, could qualify for salaries ranging from USD 12,000 to USD 15,000. However, now almost everywhere there is a tendency to decrease the wages of seafarers, in addition, fluctuations in base rates are seasonal.

Salary range

The chief executive officer and the 2nd mechanic on container ships can now count on a salary in the range of 6500 - 7500 USD. Here, too, much depends on the specific vessel and the factors that we have listed above. The second mate and the third mechanic are offered salaries of up to 3500 USD and the spread can be quite large, depending on the type of vessel and the specifics of the work.

The junior officer corps can apply for salaries of up to USD 2,800, however, it is important to note that such vacancies are now decreasing and decreasing. It is more difficult to consider salary in other specialties due to the poverty of choice. However, we emphasize that the availability of certain vacancies specifically for container ships may fluctuate due to seasonality.

Thus, if you decide to choose container ships as the most suitable type of fleet, you can safely count on your salary to be higher than that of the crew of a conventional dry cargo ship. However, depending on your specialty, as the complexity of the boat increases, more and more skills may be required from you to work at sea. For example, it is common practice to pay a supplement for the ability to carry out welding or locksmithing work. Yes, of course, such skills may not be useful on a larger type of ships, but they will be useful and, in any case, can be taken into account when determining your base rate.