Keep a ship's engines, power and systems running while it is a thousand kilometres from a repair shop.
Click through it
Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$77,000
Junior engineer
$56,000
Chief engineer
$128,000
Job Bank's national median is $37 an hour, about $77,000 a year at full-time hours. Those figures cover marine engineer officers at every rank, so a fourth engineer sits low and a chief engineer sits near the top.
About $56,000 to $72,000
Fourth or third engineer on a domestic vessel
Rates are often quoted per day worked. Meals and a cabin come with the job, so very little of it goes to living costs.
Up to about $128,000
In charge of the whole engine department
Offshore supply vessels, tankers and Arctic work pay more than general coastal trade. Chief engineers ashore can move into plant and facility engineering at similar money.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a cadet programme at the cheaper end of Canadian marine school tuition, with basic tools and coveralls, the marine medical certificate and the Transport Canada examination fees. The high end is a pricier school, a fuller kit and more exam sittings, since each certificate has several written and oral papers. Sea phases are paid work terms, so you earn through a good part of the programme and most cadets finish with far less debt than a four year engineering degree would leave. The medical certificate has to be renewed every couple of years for as long as you keep sailing.
Sea phases are paid work terms, so most cadets finish with far less debt than a four-year engineering degree would leave.
Free room and board at sea
Your cabin and all meals are part of the job.
Equal time rotations
Many Canadian vessels work patterns like 28 days on and 28 days off.
Union coverage
Engineers on many Canadian vessels are hired through the Canadian Merchant Service Guild.
Skills that transfer ashore
Power plants, refrigeration, hydraulics and large diesels are wanted everywhere.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A marine engineering cadet programme, then a ladder of Transport Canada certificates from fourth class up to first.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 English and math. Georgian College also wants a valid Transport Canada marine medical certificate saying you are fit for sea service before you start.
Marine engineering programme
3 to 4 years
Georgian College in Owen Sound runs a three-year advanced diploma with two mandatory co-op terms. Other schools run three or four-year versions of the same idea.
Sea time as an engineering cadet
About 7 months, inside the programme
Paid work terms in a real engine room. The Georgian programme logs about 210 days of sea time inside the diploma.
Transport Canada certificate of competency
Months of study
Written and oral exams, starting at fourth class marine engineer. Approved programmes earn you exemptions from some papers.
Climb the classes
Years at sea
Fourth, third, second, then first class. Each needs more watchkeeping sea time and more exams.
Physics
Thermodynamics, pressure and mechanics are the job.
Math
Heavy use through the certificate exams.
Shop, welding or small engines
Hands-on repair skill matters more here than on the bridge.
Chemistry
Fuels, lubricants and water treatment. Some programmes require it.
Marine engineers hold a certificate of competency issued by Transport Canada, earned through approved training, logged sea service, examinations and a medical certificate. It is not the same thing as a provincial power engineer licence, though the two overlap in what you learn, and some provinces will credit marine time toward a stationary engineer ticket. Transport Canada does not issue these marine certificates to people who are not Canadian, which keeps Canadian-trained engineers in demand on the domestic fleet.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Higher classes of certificate
Each step from fourth class to first is a pay band and more responsibility.
Tanker and gas endorsements
Cargo systems training that unlocks better-paying tanker work.
Refrigeration and electrical tickets
Shipboard systems are increasingly electrical, and the specialists are scarce.
Dynamic positioning and offshore experience
Offshore supply and construction vessels pay above coastal trade.
Small engine or automotive repair
Anything you have taken apart and put back together counts.
Welding basics
Repairs at sea have to be done with what is on board.
Tolerance for heat and noise
An engine room is loud, hot and cramped by design.
French
Useful on the St. Lawrence and with Quebec operators.
A marine engineering ticket ages well. Engineers who want to stop travelling move into power plants, hospitals, refineries, shipyards, marine surveying, Transport Canada inspection or technical sales, and the sea time counts as serious experience. That is worth knowing at 18: you are not locking yourself into forty years of living on a boat.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Watches in the engine room or a day-work schedule, depending on the ship. You check temperatures and pressures, take fuel and oil samples, run and log the generators, purifiers and boilers, and chase down leaks. Planned maintenance fills the rest: pulling a pump apart, changing injectors, servicing the sewage or fresh water plant. When something fails at 3am you are the person who fixes it, because there is nobody to call. In port there is bunkering, inspections and the repairs you saved for calm water.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
A ship at sea cannot order a part or call a technician. The engine department carries spares and tools and is expected to keep the vessel running with what is on board.
Georgian College's marine engineering advanced diploma builds in two co-op terms totalling about 210 days of sea time, so you graduate with a real logbook and not just a transcript.
The main diesel on a large vessel can stand several storeys tall, with cylinders you can climb inside during an overhaul. Marine engineers work on the biggest reciprocating engines ever built.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.