Meridian Marine info

[Fox]

Hi all, just basically trying to find out some more info on Meridian, have been on their website and searched on the forum and from what I've read seems like their cadets have good things to say about them.

Are they completely ro-ro and ro-pax or is it possible for cadets to be put on other types of ship? Is there any particular college that they send their cadets to?

Any info much appreciated

[1st]

A friend of mine has recently done a cadetship with them and I just called him on my mob. Here's what he had to say: The pay is good, but from what I'm told the training manager is disorganised and it sometimes doesn't feel as if she knows what she's talking about. You get some free things from them such as bags and the like, but during their first pre-sea brief she forgot what ships everyone was on and was a bit of a waste of time. The company meetings at college all seemed to be wastes of time as well, just generally for idle chit chat. Also he got put on a vessel with eastern europeans who didn't care at all about the training and even refused to sign things for them, with some crews having an anti british attitude. Some things with the company were ok though!

In terms of ships they have mainly roros around the world, as well as a few container and cargo ships. Also they put you at the college furthest away from your home.

[Clanky]

Meridian aren't a bad company to train with, they have a fleet of modern ro-ro's and ro-pax (sadly the older ro-pax's have now gone as these were good experience for engine cadets) as well as the management of a few other ships and some decent runs.

The ro-ro / ro-pax fleet has mostly British top 4 onboard and while there were a few issues on one particular ship outside of the ro-ro fleet with the attitude of the staff to cadet training this was known about and had been addressed the last I heard (about a year ago), don't know who the training officer is now, but she must be quite knew in the job as the last one only left around a year ago, so maybe she was still finding her feet when this guy had some issues.

While they don't guarantee employment for cadets they do have a policy of keeping cadets on as officers when they are qualified.

[CharlieDelta]

Out of curiosity, which companies do Meridian place with for ro-pax? All the northern European companies seem to spoken for with Clyde/SSTG.

[Clanky]

Meridian's ro-ro fleet is owned by Pacific Basin and managed by Meridian who are also owned by Pacific Basin, so the ships are essentially their own, although they are on managed charters to various operators such as UN ro-ro and LD lines.

[Fox]

Some really helpful info there, thanks a lot. Have been invited for an interview with them but awaiting a date at the moment. Found their website to be ok, not massively informative though to be honest, all a bit general. Nice to have a bit more to go on

[Clanky]

Good luck

[GuinnessMan]

Meridian's ro-ro fleet is owned by Pacific Basin and managed by Meridian who are also owned by Pacific Basin, so the ships are essentially their own, although they are on managed charters to various operators such as UN ro-ro and LD lines.

I'd be very careful discussing the owners of ships, especially when it's a ship management company you want to join. Most Ship management companies don't publicise who their owners are as this is a rather cut-throat business at times and some companies do play dirty and they may not be too happy if you go posting it on a forum.

Just a small piece of advice...

[Clanky]

All of that information is publicly available.

[GuinnessMan]

All of that information is publicly available.

Fair enough then, but is just a small point to remember. Ship Managers normally don't advertise who their clients are in fear of another company taking them off them. This is one cut throat business in parts....