Waiting period for confirmation from the ship owner

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Finding a job at sea is often not a quick process. Especially if this is your first flight. In many forums, experienced seafarers advise to contact not only one crewing company, but send requests to several at once in order to increase their chances of getting a position and reduce the search time in general. At this stage, a burning question arises - what is the waiting period for confirmation from the ship owner that you are approved in the position? Let's try to figure it out.

Maximum approval period

As practice and experience of seafarers show, most often the maximum approval period from the ship owner is 7-10 days. As with all rules, there can also be exceptions, both upward and downward. However, on the forums, it is advised in cases where the wait begins to drag on, take the initiative into your own hands and try to figure out the fate of your contract yourself. There are often cases when, due to high competition, crewing companies can keep your vacancy "in reserve", since there is no exact information from the ship owner whether the desired position will be vacated in the near future. For our part, we recommend that if the deadline is delayed, start making calls to the crewing company, or to the shipowner company (if you have their contacts) in order to find out the details. At the same time, it is recommended to focus on that you also have suggestions from other companies with a deadline for a decision in the near future, and that you also need to give them an answer, but you are interested in this particular position. This will allow you to avoid uncomfortable questions later on.

Another point that should always be remembered is that this period also largely depends on a particular crewing company and ship owner. Since there is high competition for each position of the ship's crew, you should familiarize yourself with the reviews about the company where you are going to apply before submitting the documents. It is likely that already at this stage you will come across information that will unequivocally make you understand that the wait may be delayed, or vice versa, that your issue will be resolved in 3-5 days. In any case, it is always very important to have direct contacts of those persons from whom you can find out the latest news about your appeal.

Withdrawal from the contract

In addition, let's not forget about one more thing that can significantly affect your employment in the future - cancellation of the contract if you submitted documents to several companies at once. As we said above, in order to increase the chance of finding a job at sea in the shortest possible time, we recommend submitting documents to several companies at once. And here it is very important to make sure that after you have chosen a specific proposal and approved by the ship owner, you do not spoil relations with other companies that have considered your application. Yes, of course, you can initially stipulate that you sent your CV to different companies and will consider all incoming offers. But in the future, if you have more than one proposal, but several at once, it is important to correctly convey this information so that you do not have any claims or other questions. Naturally, it is undesirable to refuse the proposed contract before boarding the flight. Therefore, the sooner you notify, the better. Also, it is important to remember that before signing the contract, in fact, you have no obligations either to the crewing or to the ship owner. Therefore, carefully consider the conditions offered to you before signing.

So, while deadlines can vary significantly from one company to another, there are ways you can help you reduce the waiting time and the hassle that comes with it.