Who Can Marine Engineers Work For?

Employment Opportunities

Who can you work for as a Marine Engineer?

The below list of potential employers for a Marine Engineer turns out to be rather long. Marine Engineering involves having knowledge and experience with many different subfields of engineering, which include, but are not limited to, the following:

Power Generation, Distribution, and System Maintenance
Electrical System Operation & Maintenance
Electronics, Automation & Control Systems Operation & Maintenance
Diesel Engineering, Diesel Engine Operation & Maintenance
Machine Shop Processes (Lathe, Welding, Brazing, Soldering, Metalworking…etc.)
HVAC & Refrigeration System Operation & Maintenance
Mechanical/Piping System Maintenance (Pumps, Motors, Valves, Piping…etc.)
Fresh Water Generation, Treatment, and Testing (Potable Water, Distilled Water)
Wastewater Treatment (Sewage and Oily Waste Disposal)
Hydraulic System Operation & Maintenance
Crane/Winch Operation & Maintenance
Lubricating Oil/Fuel Oil Treatment and Testing
Engineering System Operations & Maintenance
Boiler/Steam System Operation & Maintenance

With skills in all these categories, the opportunities to apply these skills to the real world are innumerable. Therefore, we will start with who you can work for in the capacity of an actual Marine Engineer. I will go briefly go over working for Unions, Oil Companies, Research Institutions, and the Government. All the following entities require a Marine Engineering License to be employed as an engineer on one of their vessels.

Unions

Unions are the first entities that come to mind because Maritime Unions employ a large portion of Licensed Marine Engineers. As a Marine Engineer in the United States, there are two main Unions that Engineers can become members of. As stated in previous articles, private companies work with the Unions and use their pool of Licensed Mariners as a source of skilled labor to man their ships.

Oil Companies

Oil Companies are another major employer of Licensed Marine Engineers. Oil Companies typically will directly hire Licensed Engineers to work either on an oil rig or one of their oil tankers.

Research Institutions

Research Institutions that own and operate their own ships are also an employer of Licensed Marine Engineers. There are a few Oceanographic and University-related research ships that I can think of off the top of my head that employ Licensed Mariners.

Government

Believe it or not, the largest employer of Licensed (Civilian) Marine Engineers in the United States is the Government. The Government owns and operates many civilian-run ships, which are required to have Licensed Marine Engineers on board as well to operate the engineering plant.

Shore-Side Opportunities

As mentioned above, marine engineers have a wide range of skill-sets when it comes to different facets of engineering. These skill-sets not only apply to Ocean-going ships, but also to many different shore-side applications. As these skill-sets are also useful in many land-based (shore-side) applications as well, it can be a relatively easy transition for a Marine Engineer when transitioning away from the Sea-going life is desired.

Some of the industries that Marine Engineers can transition into shore-side include Hospitals (as a power plant engineer), Power/Gas, Water treatment, Refrigeration & HVAC, and a lot of contracting companies that do contract work for ships as well.

Recap

The knowledge and experience gained through being a Marine Engineer is invaluable and translates to a lot of different opportunities in the working world. Not only that, but the work ethic demanded of a Marine Engineer is a huge benefit of the profession that is also often overlooked. Not only do the skills and work ethic of Marine Engineers translate to many employment opportunities, but also translate very well to personal development.

Above we touched briefly on what types of knowledge and skills being a Marine Engineer requires as well as who you can work for as a Marine Engineer. Again, the opportunities are plentiful for those that wish to go through the process of becoming a Licensed Marine Engineer!