Joining as a Qualified Deck Officer
I’m thinking about joining as a qualified officer and have a few questions I couldn’t find that clear answers to before. What I have found so far is very useful.
I currently work on chemical tankers as a 2^(nd) officer holding my Chief Officer ticket with chemical and oil endorsements. I have 2 years sea time as 2/O and around 1.5 years sea time as 3/O. Current company cutting pay this year and giving very poor pay increases per year since I joined (0-2%) and I don’t think they want British people much longer.
1. For joining would I start as a 3/O or is there chance of joining as 2/O. Would this also be the lowest pay band or can it be higher?
2. What are the promotion prospects like?
3. For pay I’ve found this https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/rfa_pay_scale_as_of_2025/response/2964080/attach/html/4/RFA%20Pay%20Rates.pdf.html Is there a more updated version or how much it’s risen since then.
4. With leave how many courses are normally needed to be completed with these on top of the normal STCW courses and can they be organized at the start or end of the leave.
5. Are sign on and sign off dates quite reliable or can they vary. If you are asked to come back early are you then given extra leave the next time to compensate for this?
6. Guessing this one can vary a lot but was is the approximate time from applying to joining. I currently do 3 months on 3 months off so would like to work it so I can keep getting paid.
7. For anyone who moved across from cargo ships how did you find it as a culture change and what were the biggest differences good ones and bad ones.