A day of a ship’s captain!

Captain or Master of the ship is highest ranked officer on board ship .Captain is the commander in chief for a ship. He has to practice hundreds of responsibilities. One hand he is the company representative at ship along with that he is also the supreme guardian of the ships crew.

What are the responsibilities  a master has to comply with? In one word he is responsible for overall ship management. He has to reserve company profit along with ship’s crew rights. Generally a captain give foremost importance at ship’s safety as well as safe working environment. It’s his duty to compel his crew to maintain their personal and ship safety.

A ship master is responsible for ensuring as his vessel complies with international and local rules for navigation. Also a captain can held responsible for any sort of damage of cargo. As he is the in charge of all kind of cash and stores onboard. Master with his crews are responsible for complying ship security plan as per international maritime organization guide. Captain is responsible for satisfying requirements of foreign ports immigration and custom requirements.

Captain will be held responsible for any any kind of oil spill incident or discharge of garbage which causes damage to our environment. He must ensure implementation of MARPOL convention introduced by international maritime organization. In order to ensure ship’s security he must take appropriate step to avoid any unwanted situation which may endanger lives of ships crew.

Ship captain will ensure that his crews are enjoying all the rights they deserve. He will make sure their working hour in not exceeding the limit described by maritime labor convention. He will make sure company provides enough facilities regarding the crew members fooding, accommodation, working environment and other relevant facilities.

Sometimes we find some master/captain behaves like a dictator on board ship. They create such environment that crews are afraid to raise their voice even for their legal rights. Sometimes it was found that master compelled crews work breaking the regulations. A captain should behave as a guardian. He should look after the problem of every ship personnel. He shall make a great environment at ship so that crews who are working hard  staying away from their family can lead a happy time at ship.

A ship captain earns a huge amount of money. A captain is paid around 10k-15k  USD on average differing from company to company. So after a 6 month contract he returns back to home with more or less 60k USD at  pocket.   

If a captain fails to perform his duty the consequences can be disastrous. So it’s obvious  a captain has no room for mistakes.