Marine Engineers and Naval Architects

Marine Engineers and Naval Architects are professionals responsible for designing, building and maintenance of ships, boats and other machinery operating in seas. They design and look after the building of everything to be operated in water. They work on propulsion, steering and other systems related to a ship, tank or submarines. Naval Architects perform designing task of ships and other equipment to be operated in seas. These engineers are also called as Ship Engineers or Marine Engineers.

Role of Marine Engineers and Naval Architects in India

Marine Engineers and Naval Architects gets work opportunities in marine machinery manufacturing companies, R & D ventures, academics, on marine vessels, in naval forces etc. Typically a marine engineer / naval architect performs following activities-

Build schematics, drawings and system layouts.
Checks marine machinery for efficiency and performance
Tests marine machines, tanks and other equipments to be operated in seas
Design, test, install and repair marine equipments
Follows regulatory guidelines regarding manufacturing and operations of marine vessels
Draws technical reports to be used by fellow mariners
Estimates costs of a marine project

Marine engineering and Naval architecture is one of the noble profession and separates from other engineering disciplines with respect to its operational limits.

Skill Required for Marine Engineers and Naval Architects

Academic Requirements: Marine Engineering and Naval Architects course taught as undergraduate course in engineering colleges through department of Marine Engineers and Naval Architecture. The program duration is 4 years in general. After successful completion Bachelor’s BE/B.Tech/BS is awarded. For admission into Marine Engineers and Naval Architect program one needs minimum of K-12 level education with physics, chemistry and mathematics. Admission Test is norm for admission in general. Specialization like ME, M.Tech, PhD etc is also offered in Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture for which bachelor’s qualification in Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture or a related discipline is required.

Personal Skills

Listening skills- Being a Marine Engineer and Naval Architect one needs to be a good listener. A Marine Engineer and Naval Architect require gathering information from fellow workers and clients while working on a project.

Mathematical Abilities- Marine Engineers and Naval Architects require using advance mathematics for problem solving while working on marine machinery and marine operations.

Problem Solving Skills- Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture projects comes with many challenge like industrial production, machinery design and safety measures, products processing techniques, environmental and geological challenges. A Marine Engineer and Naval Architect need to be a good problem solver so tackle the issues faced during a project.

Team worker- A Marine Engineer and Naval Architect needs to be a good team worker. Communication skills should be efficient enough so others in the team could follow the instructions provided by you related a product, project or machinery.

Scope of Marine Engineers and Naval Architects

India has less scope in this field compared to the rest of engineering branches but it is predicted that soon in two-three years the shipping industry will be progressing. Indian Navy provides a very good opportunity to the naval engineers.

After completing the course in Naval Architecture one can join Indian Navy, Coast guard as an officer. He can also work in ship building companies like Garden Reach, Kolkata, Mumbai Shipyard etc.

Since Naval architect is an engineer who is responsible for the design, construction or repair of ships, boats and all types of marine vessels and offshore structures, a naval engineer can seek employment in merchant ships, oil tankers, gas tankers, bulk carriers, container ships, cruise ships, aircraft carriers, submarines, hover crafts, underwater vehicles, passenger ships and ferries, offshore drilling platforms, high speed crafts, and multi-hull ships.