Entry & progression
You cannot walk in off the street. Engineer Class 2 requires a qualifying certificate first — and there are four ways to hold that gate, not one. Then three separate sea service routes. Pick the wrong one and you accrue time that does not count.
The prerequisite — four doors, not one
MO72 requires you to hold or have held one of the following:
- An Engineer Watchkeeper certificate of competency; or
- A foreign certificate AMSA considers at least equivalent; or
- An Engineer Class 3 near coastal certificate; or
- A State unrestricted Engineer Class 3 issued before 1 July 2013.
Note the phrase hold or have held. An expired Engineer Watchkeeper does not shut the door. And note door three: the domestic Engineer Class 3 near coastal ticket gets you in. That route has its own lesson, because almost nobody uses it.
The three sea service options
| Option | You hold | QSS required | On the kind of propulsion |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engineer Watchkeeper CoC | 12 months on vessels ≥750 kW | at least 9 months |
| 2 | Engineer Class 3 NC (or pre-2013 State EC3) | 24 months on vessels ≥750 kW | at least 9 months |
| 3 | A combination | A mix of 1 and 2 that AMSA considers equivalent | — |
The service must be accrued while holding the certificate in question. Time you put in before the certificate was issued does not count toward that option. This is the single most expensive mistake on the ladder — engineers who did the sea time and then went and got the ticket, in that order, and found the clock had not started.
Read Option 1 and Option 2 side by side
Twelve months versus twenty-four. The Engineer Watchkeeper route is half the sea time. That is the price AMSA puts on the STCW watchkeeping certificate — and it is why most people take the Watchkeeper ticket first even though, as the next lesson shows, they do not strictly have to.
The 9 months on propulsion of the kind is identical in both. Whichever door you came through, three-quarters of a year of your time has to be on motor plant if you want a motor ticket. Mixed fleets, dual-fuel jobs and long yards periods erode this number quietly. Track it separately from your total.
WARNING — ≥750 kW is a filter on the vessel, not on you Every option counts service on vessels of at least 750 kW propulsion power. Time on a boat below that threshold is not qualifying seagoing service for this certificate, no matter how hard you worked or how good the engineering was. Before you take a job for the sea time, get the propulsion power of the main engines in writing.
What AMSA counts as qualifying service
MO72 Schedule 3 says the service must have been performed as an engineer, trainee engineer or engineer cadet — or in an equivalent capacity regularly engaged in engine-room watchkeeping, which may include service on call in periodically unattended machinery spaces. The instrument says vessels and ships. It does not say merchant ship, and it does not exclude a yacht.
CAUTION — Whether AMSA accepts superyacht time toward MO72 is not published No AMSA page and no Marine Order states whether superyacht service is accepted toward the international engineering certificates. MO72's text does not exclude it. But MO70 s18 lets AMSA discount service it considers of little relevance, and AMSA has said in terms that "service on vessels that spend considerable time in port will not be accepted". Do not assume; ask AMSA about your specific vessel and your specific hours before you spend a season accruing them.