Entry & progression
Engineer Class 2 is a chief engineer's ticket. Most people in yachting think it is a second engineer's ticket. They are wrong, and the mistake costs them years. Sits above Engineer Watchkeeper. Sits below Engineer Class 1. Issued under Marine Order 72 (Engineer officers) 2014.
That is a command. It is the engineering equivalent of a master's ticket, and it is sitting inside a certificate most crew describe to each other as "the second engineer's one".
The full Schedule 1 entitlement
- Second engineer or engineer watchkeeper on a vessel of any propulsion power, of the kind stated on the certificate, in any operating area.
- Chief engineer on a vessel of less than 3000 kW, in any operating area.
- Electrical, electronic and control engineering duties.
- Able seafarer — engine rating duties.
Read the first two lines together and the shape of the ticket appears. On the biggest ship afloat you can be the second engineer or keep a watch. On anything below 3000 kW you can run the department. The ceiling on your watchkeeping and second-engineer work is unlimited; the ceiling on your command is 3000 kW.
WARNING — "You need Class 1 to be chief" is false below 3000 kW It is the most persistent myth on the Australian engineering ladder. Engineer Class 1 is what you need to be chief engineer on a vessel of any propulsion power. Below 3000 kW, Engineer Class 2 already carries the chief engineer's authority — anywhere in the world. If your career plan says "Class 1 before I can be chief", check the propulsion power of the boats you actually want to run first.
The naming trap — First engineer, STCW Second engineer
Marine Order 72, section 4, carries a note that every Australian engineer must know:
"In the Australian maritime industry, the engineer officer who performs the functions of a Second engineer specified by the STCW Code is generally referred to as the First engineer."
AMSA writes it on the page as "First engineer officer (STCW Second engineer)". One person, two names. The STCW Code says second engineer. The Australian industry says first engineer. If you hear "first engineer" on an Australian vessel, that is the number two in the department — the officer directly under the chief. Getting this backwards in an interview marks you instantly.
Kilowatts. Never gross tonnage.
Australian engineering certificates are scoped by propulsion power in kilowatts. There is no gross tonnage figure anywhere in MO72. There is no such thing as an "Engineer <3000 GT". The deck side runs on tonnage; the engineering side runs on kW. If a recruiter or a course brochure quotes you an engineering ticket in GT, they do not know the Australian system.
Motor, steam, or steam and motor
MO72 section 8 requires every engineer certificate to state the kind of propulsion power it applies to. Yours will say motor, steam, or steam and motor. The entitlement above — any propulsion power, any operating area — is true only for the kind stated on your certificate. A motor ticket is not a steam ticket.
NOTE — There is no AMSA yacht engineering certificate The word "yacht" does not appear anywhere in Marine Order 72. Australia issues four yacht certificates and all four are deck. There is no AMSA equivalent of the MCA's Y-tickets or MEOL(Y). An Australian yacht engineer holds a general engineer officer certificate — Engineer Watchkeeper, Engineer Class 2 or Engineer Class 1 — or, for near-coastal work, a domestic ticket under Marine Order 505.