Entry & progression
MED Grade 2 also has no prerequisite certificate. You can go straight to it. But the sea service is where the whole system reveals itself: a trade qualification is worth more to you here than the task book is.
What it entitles you to do
| Role | Limit |
|---|---|
| Chief engineer, inboard | Under 750 kW |
| Chief engineer, outboard | Any propulsion power |
| Second engineer | Under 1500 kW |
| Engine room | Under 3000 kW |
The four sea service numbers
All Grade 2 sea service must be on commercial vessels with inboard engines of at least 150 kW. Note the step up: Grade 3 counted anything from 75 kW. Grade 2 will not count the small stuff at all.
| With task book | Without task book | |
|---|---|---|
| With a workshop skill equivalent qualification | 90 days | 180 days |
| Without workshop skills | 180 days | 360 days |
Look at that table properly, because it is the most important table in this course. The task book halves your service - 360 becomes 180, 180 becomes 90. And the trade qualification also halves it. Hold both and you need 90 days. Hold neither and you need 360. Same certificate, four times the sea time.
TIP — The trade is worth more than the task book here Compare the diagonals. A tradesperson with no task book needs 180 days. A non-tradesperson with a task book also needs 180 days. The two levers are worth roughly the same - and they stack.
If you already hold an Australian mechanical, electrical, diesel or heavy-vehicle trade certificate, you are not starting from scratch. You are starting at 90 days. Find out whether your trade is on AMSA's list before you plan a single sea day around it - the list is legally defined and the next lesson reproduces it.
The course and the assessment
The qualification is the Certificate III in Maritime Operations (Marine Engine Driver Grade 2 Near Coastal). The final assessment is an AMPA. There is no oral examination at Grade 2 either. Two grades in, and you still have not met an AMSA examiner.
The ETO equivalence
NOTE — An Electro-technical Officer can work as a MED 2 NC AMSA recognises the international Electro-technical Officer certificate as permitting MED Grade 2 near-coastal duties. If you came up through the electrical side and hold an ETO ticket, you already have Grade 2 authority in the domestic system without sitting the Certificate III.
This matters on yachts more than anywhere else: the yacht ETO is a real and common role, and it is one of the few places where an international engineering certificate buys you something concrete on the domestic ladder.
Why Grade 2 is the honest target for most people
Grade 3 is the door. Grade 2 is where a lot of careers sensibly stop, because 750 kW of inboard plant covers an enormous amount of Australian commercial work - charter boats, small ferries, workboats, dive vessels, tenders and the yachts that operate as domestic commercial vessels. There is no oral to sit and no prerequisite to grind through. If you have a trade behind you, it is ninety days away.