Working hours

[Gazbo]

Can anyone give me typical idea of the hours a cadet might be required to work over a 24 hour perios whilst at sea? What about the average hourse across a week? I'm guessing that the generous leave entitlements come from having to work lots of hours on ship. Could anyone bring light to the matter please??

Thankyou

[size4riggerboots]

Re: Working hours

ILO (International Labour Organisation) regs state a seafarer must get a minimum of 70 hours rest a week. MCA regs state seafarers must get 77 hours of rest a week, so if you're on a British flagged ship you should get that..

However..... on some ships there may be a 'slight difference' in what you put down on your hours of rest sheet and what you actually do (known as flogging the log!). I was lucky, on day work for most of the time and did 8 hour days which included smokos. When I did watchkeeping on the QM I did my 4 in the morning, 4 in the eve/middle of the night and two hours on top, generally mooching around the bridge/studying. Other cadets have told me stories of doing 14 hr days as a matter of course, never getting any study time, and generally feeling a bit miffed when they heard how easy I'd had it.

[Malim Sahib]

Re: Working hours

Gazbo,
It depends on whether you'll be a Dayworker or Watchkeeper.

The traditional shipboard day at sea goes like this:
Dayworkers start work at 0800 and finish at 1700, they have two half hour breaks 1000-1030 and 1500-1530 together with 1 hour for lunch 1200-1300.
Depending on how your ship works, the dayworkers will normally have a half day on either Saturday or Sunday, sometimes both.

When at sea, watchkeepers generally work a minimum of 8 hours per day split into two 4 hour periods, e.g. 0800-1200/2000-2400, however most ships officers (different for Engineers/ETO's) have responsibilities outside their watchkeeping hours and so for example the 8-12 watchkeeper will often also work 1300-1500. An average working day for most of the Deck Officers will be about 10 hours all told.
Unless the Old Man/Chief Engineer is feeling particularly benevolent and is willing to cover your watch, watchkeepers do not get half days.

When in port you can expect to do extra hours as if Deck side you'll be called out for additional duties such as mooring stations and if you're on the Engine Room side you'll possibly be called for 'Standby' in the E/R during arrival/departure.
On many cargo ships and tankers the Deck Officers will work 6 hours on, 6 hours off for the duration of the port stay, as well as being called out for mooring/sailing etc on top of that.

As a cadet you'll probably be expected to spend most of the week either on watches or on daywork, but will most likely be given a Study afternoon or a study day - don't expect to be guaranteed afternoons off like the rest crew, you may get them or you may not.
Each company and each ship has a different way of working, and a certain amount of it comes down to the preference/habits of the Senior Officers onboard. I would point out that with ships/companies which have large crews e.g. Cruise lines, then working practices can be quite different.
There are generally no hard and fast rules as to what you'll be doing as a cadet onboard, so really it's a case of suck it and see when you join the ship.
Do you know which company you'll be sailing with yet? If so there are quite likely cadets from that company on the site, and they might be able to help further.

[GuinnessMan]

Re: Working hours

Ive never actually done daywork, ive only ever done watchkeeping and that can change from ship to ship.

On a small Ro-Ro ferry in the hebrides our watch hours would be around 2100 - 0400 and 1200 - 1600 if you are with the 3rd Eng. If you were with the 2nd Eng then it was 0400 to 1200 and 1600 to 2100.

Although on the ship after that I would generally do my Engine watchkeeping times of 0800 - 1200 and 2000 to 0000, although in the afternoon I would be doing other things around the Engine Room or my own paperwork or everybody else's paperwork (never let on that you know how to use a computer!).

Like I said, it differs from ship to ship but I have done a number of 12 to 18 hour days work, but so did most other engineers so it was nothing really, you just sleep really well!

[Gazbo]

Re: Working hours

Awesome, thanks guys!

I'm not sure which ship yet Malim, having been accepted by Clyde I wouldn't even like to tell you my 3 choices, having read alot about cadets ending up with nothing like what they asked for!

Here are my choices anyway though, I put in a nice spread so that I end up with a suprise:

1. Disney Cruise Liners
2. Acergy
3. Chevron

At the moment, I'm thinking i'll be extremely lucky to get any of the above

[dawg]

Re: Working hours

I'd stay away from Disney Lines - i've heard they're a mickey mouse outfit.

[Malim Sahib]

Re: Working hours

I'd stay away from Disney Lines - i've heard they're a mickey mouse outfit.

[dawg]

Re: Working hours

...and Chevron are bunch of cowboys. (I'm here all week )

[GuinnessMan]

Re: Working hours

Is it possible to take a person with Mickey Mouse on their uniform seriously?

[dawg]

Re: Working hours

Yeah... the mother of all personalidy cults...

I wonder if Mickey'll let Donald have a go on the wheel?

[The H]

Re: Working hours

Mine will be 4 on - 8 off - 4 on - 8 off

[alistairuk]

Re: Working hours

Mine will be 4 on - 8 off - 4 on - 8 off

ha! good luck...

BTW. I haven't actually heard of ETO's doing watches... they tend to just wonder around fixing things that have broken and ignoring pagers from the bridge!

[Steve]

Re: Working hours

RFA SEs are certainly dayworkers. There was a time, when the Bay class first entered service, that SEs kept MCR watches on them, but it didn't last long. The Bays can be run UMS but aren't allowed to when we are pretending that they are "passenger ships".

Apart from passenger ships, do engineers keep watches on many modern vessels?

[dawg]

Re: Working hours

AIUI... an ETO in the RFA is not the same as an ETO on a cruise ship (or a BP tanker evidently): they're Engine Cadets with a couple of extra slightly electronic modules (the Warsash ETO).
The Cruise ship ETOs (= RFA SEs) are the cadets who go on the exclusively Electro cadetship at STC.

Perhaps when they finally get round to delivering Electro CoCs, they'll clear up the nomenclature.

[GuinnessMan]

Re: Working hours

ETO's are generally dayworkers from what ive seen. Although I dont think many companies hire them.....

Engineers can keep watches. Depends on your vessel, conditions and your Chief Engineer.