What are the top companies to work for (and possibly the ones to avoid)?

[Unregistered]

Due to the forum being supported by so many companies, I can understand people not wanting to discuss them publicly. But trying to make an informed decision when it comes to applications is incredibly difficult if you only know that Company X is the worst in the world to work for, and Company Y is fantastic, but no names. Does anyone have any particularly good (or bad) experiences with different companies they are willing to share? I appreciate it could be quite risky business!

Thanks!

Companies I'm mainly interested in:
Maersk
BP
Bibby
Clyde Marine Training (K Line, Wilhelmsen and British Marine / Ocean Bulk Carriers)

[CharlieDelta]

Approved HOWEVER some ground rules before people reply:

- Back everything up with explanations.
- Be prepared for people to disagree with you.
- If you have a grudge against your company, please raise it with your company or if needs be through Nautilus, not here.

[Pilot Chris]

During my Trininty house cadetship I sailed under both BP and a Bibby managed ship both of them were very good and unless anything major has changed I would recommend both to anyone going for a cadetship.

I must say I only had one trip on each so probably not the best reply but the beauty of my Trinity cadetship was that I could "try before you buy"!

[chris]

I'd add that as an ETO cadet sponsored by Trinity House, I got to try 2 cruise ships before buying, as well as some smaller ships which in my opinion were better places for completing the TRB and practical training.

But if I had my time again, I would apply to SSTG for their range of sponsoring companies or take a gamble with Clyde Marine for their offshore shipping sponsors. The gamble being that they have a few companies I wouldn't want to be sponsored by.

[Unregistered]

I did my cadetship with Evergreen through SSTG.

SSTG were pretty good, the pay was better than clyde and they paid your accomodation although I believe this is no longer the case. Pretty prompt at replying to e-mails and generally no complaints.

Evergreen weren't great tbh. They will not offer you a job at the end (the officers are Tiawanese and Filipino and they don't employ Europeans) and the language barrier was sometimes difficult and caused issues with training. Having said that there were a couple of good officers who taught me some stuff.

The food was absolutely HORRENDOUS. I cannot emphasise that enough. Fish heads and noodles for dinner and baby octupus and rice for breakfast? Lovely. They also tried to save money at every available opportunity and for this reason will try and embark/disembark all their cadets in the UK. This means you will probably do the same route for your whole cadetship (Europe-Asia). Not a huge problem in relative terms but it gets a bit boring.

On the plus side the cabins were massive and there was always a couple of other cadets so you were never the only Brit on board. Opportunities for shore leave were good.

Just from speaking to classmates and from what I know now if I was applying now I would probably try and get a company that at least employs British Officers so that A) you have a chance of a job and B) they actually understand the training system and what you need to learn. Classmates with Farstad, Northern Marine, Viking Supply, GMS seem to have had pretty good training off the top of my head.

[Unregistered]

Out of curiosity, What are you reasons for wanting to go with British Marine?

I am a current B.M Cadet....

[Unregistered]

I'm sponsored by Clyde Marine and was pretty worried about what to expect after reading some comments on here. Unfortunately they were the only company that even gave me an interview so I had no choice. In the end though I can't say a bad word about them. They are strict with their cadets and expect 100% attendance etc. but asl long as you are taking college seriously then they'll reward you for it.

I ended up with Farstad and could not have asked for a better company. They have guaranteed me a position as 2/O when I finish college subject to 2 months sailing as 3rd. They are really friendly and make you feel like a part of the company from the very beginning. All the "welfare" perks are available to cadets. 6 weeks on, 2 weeks off, almost entirely British crew and have learnt loads already.

Other companies that sound good from speaking to friends at college are Subsea 7 and Gulf Offshore. If you can get into the offshore side of things then you're almost guaranteed a good job when you qualify.

[YoungMariner]

I'd put any of the agencies (Clyde/SSTG) further down the list as there is an increased chance of sailing on a ship which may not be able to offer the optimum level of training.

Bibby, BP, Shell, Trinity House, P&O, Carnival UK, Viking, RFA, Maersk are all somewhere near the top as they most likely place you on ships with British Officers who will understand the training you need and will more often then not be able to offer you a position upon completion.