Entry & progression
The least-known route in the Australian engineering ladder. You do not have to hold the Engineer Watchkeeper certificate to reach Engineer Class 2. You must complete the course. An Engineer Class 3 near coastal holder can go straight to Engineer Class 2.
Everyone assumes the ladder is a single file: Engineer Watchkeeper, then Class 2, then Class 1. It is not. Option 2 in MO72 lets a holder of an Engineer Class 3 near coastal certificate — a domestic ticket, issued under Marine Order 505 — apply for Engineer Class 2 without ever having been issued an Engineer Watchkeeper certificate of competency.
The distinction that makes it work
TIP — Complete the course. You need not hold the certificate. Option 2 requires you to complete an approved Engineer Watchkeeper course meeting STCW A-III/1, plus the engineer training program short courses. It does not require you to have been issued the Engineer Watchkeeper certificate of competency. Course, not ticket. Read that sentence twice — it is the whole shortcut.
It matters because the Engineer Watchkeeper certificate is not just a course. It is a course plus a training programme, plus a Training Record Book signed by a certificated engineer aboard, plus sea service under supervision, plus an AMSA oral examination in its own right. Option 2 lets you skip the certificate and its oral, keep the course, and put the extra weight into sea time instead.
What Engineer Class 3 near coastal already gives you
- Chief engineer on a vessel with an inboard engine of less than 3000 kW, out to the outer limits of the EEZ.
- Chief engineer on outboard-engined vessels with unlimited propulsion power.
- Engine room of a vessel under 3000 kW, to the outer limits of the EEZ.
That is already a substantial chief engineer authority — inside Australia. What it is not is an STCW certificate. It does not travel. The moment the vessel leaves the domestic system, the EC3 NC stops being the answer. Engineer Class 2 is the same chief engineer authority, at the same 3000 kW ceiling, anywhere in the world.
The trade you are making
| Via Engineer Watchkeeper | Via Engineer Class 3 NC | |
|---|---|---|
| Prerequisite ticket | Engineer Watchkeeper CoC | Engineer Class 3 NC |
| QSS for Class 2 | 12 months ≥750 kW | 24 months ≥750 kW |
| On the kind | 9 months | 9 months |
| A-III/1 course | Yes — as part of the EWK ticket | Yes — you still must do it |
| Short courses | Yes | Yes |
| An EWK oral exam | Yes | No |
Twelve extra months of sea service, in exchange for not sitting an oral and not running a supervised Training Record Book programme. For a diesel fitter who came up through the domestic fleet and already holds the EC3 NC, that is often the cheaper trade — the sea time is being accrued anyway.
Who this route is actually for
The Australian who did their time on tugs, ferries, dive boats and workboats. The engineer with a workshop trade behind them who climbed the Marine Engine Driver ladder to Engineer Class 3 and now wants to go foreign — to a superyacht, to offshore, to a ship. They are typically told they have to "start again" on the international ladder. They do not. They have a door, and Option 2 is it.
CAUTION — Option 3 exists — and it is discretionary MO72 also allows a combination of Options 1 and 2 that AMSA considers equivalent. There is no published formula. If your career is a mix of domestic near-coastal time and international watchkeeping, the combination route may be the honest description of it — but only AMSA can tell you what your particular mix is worth. Ask before you plan around it.