Although Merchant Navy is a highly paid and glorious job, however at the junior rank there are a lot of difficulties in getting a job in a good shipping company. Many freshers who pass out from the training institute after completing their Diploma in Nautical Science course, BSc in Nautical Science course, or BTech in Marine Engineering, do not get a job in a reputed shipping company.

The main reason is that every year many candidates pass out from the training institutes but the vacancies in shipping companies are relatively less. You must be aware that all these courses are very specialized courses and also their cost is very high. So after passing out from the training institute if a candidate does not get a job then it becomes very difficult for him to pursue his future career.

Therefore Government of India with the help of shipping companies has started a system where a candidate is selected by the shipping companies before taking admission in Merchant Navy-related courses. In other words, the Job of the candidate is secured before taking admission to the institute. This system is called sponsorship by shipping companies.

After passing out from the training institute, the candidate gets the job in the same company which has sponsored him before starting the course.

This is a very good system for the candidate as his career gets secured before spending any money on the course.

But the biggest challenge for the candidate is to find a good company for sponsorship as there are many fraud companies also so in the market. As a fresher, the candidate does not have much knowledge about the merchant navy. These fraud companies try to cheat money from them by providing sponsorship letters at the cost of a huge amount. Therefore new candidates have to be extremely careful while deciding the sponsorship company.

The best way to get a sponsorship from reputed shipping company is to approach good institutes. Do not approach shipping companies directly, otherwise, you will be cheated. All the good shipping companies come to these top institutes for sponsorship exams. When you approach these top institutes they will introduce you to these reputed shipping companies. Before taking admission these shipping companies will conduct an examination and if you are successful you will be provided with the job guarantee letter/sponsorship letter by that shipping company. This is the best way to get sponsorship from a reputed shipping company in Merchant Navy.

The sponsorship examination which is taken by repeated shipping companies is in 3 steps.

1. Written examination which includes multiple-choice questions of General aptitude, English, Physics, Mathematics, and Chemistry.

2. Psychometric personality test

3. Interview

The sponsorship exam of the shipping companies is not easy. Most of the candidates don’t face any problem in General aptitude, English, Physics, Mathematics, and Chemistry as only basic level questions are asked from NCERT books of class 11th and 12th.

But other steps, Psychometric Personality test and Interview are different and tough. Therefore if a candidate wants to be successful in the sponsorship exam he must practice a psychometric personality test and interview.

List of top institutes

1. Anglo Eastern Maritime Academy
2. Samundra Institute of maritime studies
3. Great eastern Institute of maritime studies
4. Tolani Maritime Institute
5. Indian Maritime Institute Kolkata
6.  Maritime Training Institute Mumbai
7. Institute of maritime studies Goa
8. Applied Research Institute New Delhi
9. International Maritime institute Noida
10. Training ship Rahaman Mumbai

Disclaimer: Above is the list of good institutes as per the personal opinion of Elearn Mariner, however, before taking admission you must get information and guidance from Merchant Navy experts.

Candidates must note that sponsorship by Merchant Navy shipping companies is totally free of cost. It is illegal by law to pay any fees to the company for sponsorship. If any company asks you to pay money, you should understand that it is a fraud company and you can report the incident to the government of India.