Entry & progression
This is the first rung on the entire Australian ladder with an AMSA oral examination. It is also the first MED grade with a prerequisite. Grade 1 is where the system stops being generous and starts asking questions.
What it entitles you to do
| Role | Limit |
|---|---|
| Chief engineer, inboard | Under 1500 kW |
| Chief engineer, outboard | Any propulsion power |
| Second engineer | Under 3000 kW |
| Engine room | Under 3000 kW |
The prerequisite - and it is not what you expect
Grades 3 and 2 have no prerequisite certificate. Grade 1 does, and it is worded as a condition on the service, not on the paperwork: you must have completed sea service while holding either a MED Grade 2 or a workshop skill equivalent qualification.
Read that again. A trade certificate is an alternative to the MED 2 ticket, not merely a discount on it. The tradesperson does not have to climb through Grade 2 at all. They can hold their Certificate III in diesel fitting, do the days, and present for Grade 1.
The sea service
All of it must be on commercial vessels with inboard engines of at least 375 kW - another step up from Grade 2's 150 kW.
| Held while accruing | With task book | Without task book |
|---|---|---|
| MED Grade 2 | 120 days | 240 days |
| Workshop skill equivalent qualification | 90 days | 180 days |
TIP — The trade route is shorter than the certificate route A tradesperson with a task book needs 90 days. A MED 2 holder with a task book needs 120 days - and had to earn the MED 2 first. The trade is not a consolation prize for people who came from ashore. On this rung it is the faster road.
The oral examination
CAUTION — MED Grade 1 is the first AMSA oral on the whole ladder Grade 3: AMPA. Grade 2: AMPA. Grade 1: oral examination, conducted by AMSA.
This is a different kind of assessment. An AMPA is a practical at your training provider, marked by your provider. An oral is an AMSA examiner asking you, out loud, why you would do what you say you would do - and following the answer wherever it goes. You cannot cram it the week before. It tests whether you actually understand the plant you have been standing next to for the last four hundred days.
The qualification is the Certificate IV in Maritime Operations (Marine Engine Driver Grade 1 Near Coastal).
Keeping it
Renewal requires 120 days of sea service in the preceding five years. That is a real condition, and it is the point at which a certificate stops being a thing you own and becomes a thing you maintain. Twenty-four days a year, on average. Miss it and you are into AMSA's alternative revalidation routes.
The Engineer Watchkeeper equivalence
NOTE — An Engineer Watchkeeper can work as a MED 1 NC AMSA recognises an Engineer Watchkeeper (Motor) or (Motor and Steam) certificate as permitting MED Grade 1 near-coastal duties. If you already hold the international watchkeeping ticket and you come home to Australian domestic work, you hold Grade 1 authority without sitting the Certificate IV or the oral.
The traffic in the Australian system flows this way - international certificates buy domestic authority far more readily than domestic ones buy international authority.