9-Month Cadet Wait Time: What It Means and What to Do

You finished your first contract. You came home expecting to sign on again in a few weeks. Two months passed. Then three. Now you are looking at a 9-month wait before your seniors from college — the people you relieved — can even get back onboard.

This is one of the most common situations Indian deck cadets face in 2026. It is also one of the least talked about.

Here is everything you need to know, from someone who has seen this play out — not from a college counsellor who has never been to sea.

Why the 9-Month Wait Happens

Shipping companies operate on the basis of their fleet size. If a company has 12 vessels, it has a fixed number of cadet berths. When those berths are occupied — by cadets currently sailing — there is simply no slot for you.

The problem compounds when:

The company’s fleet is small. A company with 8 to 12 vessels may have only 6 to 10 cadet positions across the whole fleet at any given time. When those are filled by your batchmates who signed on before you, the wait begins.

The 18-month sea time requirement is inflexible. Many companies require deck cadets to complete a full 18 months of sea time before they are released to take the 2nd Mate exam. That is 18 months of a cadet occupying a berth. Until they sign off and go home to write their exam, their slot does not open up.

All cadets from your batch are on the same clock. You relieved your senior. Your junior will relieve you. The entire chain moves at the speed of the slowest link — the cadet who has the most sea time remaining.

This is a structural reality of Indian shipping. It is not a personal failure. It is not the company deliberately punishing you. It is arithmetic.

The Question Everyone Asks: Should I Leave This Company?

This is the central question in every cadet’s mind at the 9-month mark. The honest answer, most of the time, is no — and here is why.

Other companies have their own cadets waiting. Every reputable Indian shipping company — Anglo-Eastern, Fleet Management, Synergy, Bernhard Schulte, Great Eastern — has a pipeline of cadets who joined through their own sponsorship programs. Those cadets have first priority on their fleet’s berths. You, coming in as an external applicant with one completed contract, are competing with their entire internal waiting list.

A company change damages your discharge book narrative. A discharge book that shows one contract with Company A, then a gap, then one contract with Company B, then another gap raises questions in every future interview. The maritime world is smaller than it looks. Manning superintendents talk.

Your sea time certificate from your current company is already partially earned. You have sea time logged. Leaving does not erase it — your sea time is yours. But the momentum you have built with a specific company, the relationships, the performance record, all of that resets.

The advice that actually holds: wait it out at your current company, complete your sea time, pass your 2nd Mate CoC, and then make any company switch from the position of a qualified officer — not as a cadet chasing an open berth.

When Switching Companies Does Make Sense

There are legitimate reasons to consider a company change, even as a cadet. These are the exceptions:

Safety is compromised. If the company is operating vessels with documented ISM failures, port state control deficiencies, or a pattern of crew welfare violations — leave. Sea time is valuable, but not at the cost of working in an unsafe environment.

The company is RPSL-violating or agent-operated. If your original sponsorship involved an agent who charged you money, and the “company” is operating through informal arrangements — get out and consult DG Shipping’s grievance mechanism.

The wait has exceeded 18 months with no communication. At that point, the company has effectively released you whether they say so formally or not. Document your attempts to contact them and move on.

You have completed your sea time and are waiting for exam slots. This is a different situation entirely — you are no longer a cadet. At this point, you are a qualified officer and your options are completely different.

The Gas Carrier Goal: How to Actually Get There

One thing that appears often among Indian cadets is the ambition to move to specialised vessel types — gas carriers (LPG/LNG), chemical tankers, cruise ships — after starting on bulk carriers or general cargo.

This ambition is legitimate. Gas carriers pay significantly more and are genuinely more technically interesting to work on. But the path is almost always the same:

Complete your sea time and 2nd Mate CoC on your current vessel type. Then, when applying for positions as a qualified 3rd Officer, apply specifically to companies operating the vessel type you want. At that point, your qualifications speak for themselves. You can also pursue Basic LPG/LNG Tanker Operations (BLTAO) or the chemical tanker equivalent as a voluntary additional certificate to strengthen your application.

Trying to jump to a gas carrier as a cadet, without the CoC, is almost impossible. Companies operating gas carriers have their own cadet pipelines and do not need to pull from the external market.

What to Do With a 9-Month Wait

A 9-month wait at home is not a setback — it is time. Here is what it should look like:

Months 1 to 2: Rest genuinely. You were at sea. You are entitled to this.

Month 3: Start 2nd Mate exam preparation. The syllabus is substantial — Terrestrial Navigation, Meteorology, Cargo Work, Ship Stability, Ship Construction, Collision Regulations, Chartwork. Begin with Terrestrial Nav and Meteorology. These are the foundation.

Month 4 to 6: Complete the 2nd Mate syllabus. Work through SOLAS, MARPOL, ISM, ISPS. Build your orals preparation by reading the examiner’s guidelines and practising scenario answers.

Month 7 to 8: Work on certificates. If you are missing any STCW short courses — Advanced Fire Fighting, Medical First Aid, PSSR — complete them now. Your certificate file should be clean and complete before you return to sea.

Month 9: Review your company relationship. Have a direct, professional communication with your Manning office. Ask specifically when the next available berth is expected. Get a written or WhatsApp-documented response. If the answer is vague or no response comes, escalate to the company’s HR or Crew department.

The Practical Reality of Indian Cadet Life in 2026

One comment from the r/IndianMariners community this week put it plainly: because Indian Instagram influencers have significantly increased the supply of cadets entering the market, bargaining power has shifted entirely to shipping companies.

This is true. The number of young people entering pre-sea training in India has increased substantially over the last five years, driven partly by social media content showing the high salary and travel lifestyle. The result is more cadets competing for the same number of berths, which extends waiting times and keeps entry-level salaries suppressed.

This is the market you are operating in. It does not change the fundamentals of what you should do — complete your sea time, pass your exams, build your CoC — but it does mean you cannot afford to waste the waiting period on passivity.

The cadets who come out of this phase stronger are the ones who use the time systematically, not the ones who panic and make reactive decisions about company switches.

Conclusion

A 9-month cadet wait is painful. It is also normal in the current Indian maritime market. Changing companies during this period is almost always the wrong move. Completing your sea time, passing your 2nd Mate exam, and building your certificate file is always the right one.

The window between contracts is the best exam preparation time you will ever have. Use it.

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