What is ‘Sponsorship’ in Merchant Navy?

To be a part of the merchant navy is a matter of great prestige and these are a fleet of merchant vessels who serve as registered personnel within the government. But another matter of fact is that being an individual enrolled in the merchant navy is not an easy task as it is a very costly study with specialised courses with high costs. So from here comes the leverage i.e. sponsorship offered to the students here that act as a safety asset for the students. 

What is meant by ‘Sponsorship’ in Merchant Navy?

Sponsorship is offered by a shipping company and it means that a particular company after the completion of one’s theoretical education and training will get onboarded and get a job at the company that provides the individual with sponsorship before even starting the college course. It acts as a safety belt for attaining a job before getting a degree. Getting a sponsorship means that if you’ll successfully complete your Marine Course, then you can join the Sponsoring company without any examination or interview. That particular company is responsible to offer you the first job.

For example, a student who has received a sponsorship from suppose ABC company and he joins the BTech Marine Engineering course in a particular college through IMU-CET. So, after successfully completing the 4-year BTech course, he can directly start working in that ABC company. This will be a kind of Job-guarantee even before joining the course.

But the most important thing to pay attention to is that one will be able to avail this benefit under DNS (Diploma in Nautical Science) course, GME (Graduate Marine Engineering), and ETO (Electro Technical Officer) thing only. Therefore it’s the best option to build out a career in merchant Navy. This procedure was started by GOI so that the job of the individual is secured beforehand.

But these days there is a lot of issue being faced by individuals in getting sponsorship because of the sudden increase in the number of people joining the merchant navy but still there are several companies that still offer sponsorship.The companies that offer sponsorship for the DNS course include Anglo Eastern, Great Eastern, Wilhelmsen, MSC (Mediterranean Shipping company), SCI (Shipping Corporation of India), Synergy Maritime, Fleet Management, etc. Other than this there also exists companies that provide general sponsorship to individuals irrespective of the course which includes Wilhelmsen Ship Management, Scorpio, Fleet Management, Nortrans, Tolani Shipping, etc.

So the people get sponsorship after clearing their 12th and score a minimum aggregate of 60% in PCM and a score of 60% in English as well. Some companies even demand more depending on the company. To avail of sponsorship there are several steps like –

1. One needs to find authentic companies that offer sponsorship by visiting their websites or calling them for getting further information and after one decides on the company one wants to go in then one need to fill out the form and pay a nominal fee. 
2. A date is issued for entrance exams in which the syllabus consists of PCM of 11th and 12th and some analytical questions. 
3. After this the company takes a personal interview with the person in order to check one’s knowledge regarding the company they are joining, the merchant navy industry, basic PCM and analytical skills as well as communication skills.
4. Lastly comes the medical checkup of the individual and the psychometric test that one needs to undergo. After clearing all this one officially becomes a sponsored cadet of that particular company. So the most difficult part is to clear the interview round andthe psychometric round therefore one needs to pay attention to it.

There is a particular condition regarding sponsorship that after clearing all the rounds one will secure both their admission and placement. If one is joining G.P. rating or any other course, one needs to appear for the sponsorship exams of the selected college. IMU-CET is not required for G.P. One of the biggest blunders that people do is falling into the trap of fake companies and giving them huge amounts of money. So it’s very important to first check the authenticity of the company before taking sponsorship within a particular company. So the best way to escape this trap is to wait for the companies that come to the college to offer sponsorship and get placed through this medium. As the sponsorship by the merchant navy companies is totally free of cost.