Keep a ship's engines, power and systems running while it is a thousand kilometres from a repair shop.
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Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $77,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $56,000 at the lower end to about $128,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
3 to 5 years after high school, on the usual route.
$13,000 to $39,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
Yes. It is a regulated job, so you need a licence or registration before you can work.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$77,000
Lower end
$56,000
Upper end
$128,000
Job Bank's national median is $37 an hour, about $77,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end ($26.78) and upper end ($61.54) are the bottom and top of the wage range for officers at every rank, from fourth engineer to chief engineer.
$58,000 to $70,000 a year
What Georgian College says its marine engineering graduates start on
Rates are often quoted per day worked. Meals and a cabin come with the job, so very little of it goes to living costs.
$45.67 an hour
The median in Ontario, about $95,000 a year
British Columbia is close behind at $45, and Nova Scotia is the lowest of the provinces Job Bank reports, at $32.05.
Roughly, all in
$13,000 to $39,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a cadet program 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 program 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.
Room and board provided 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 program, 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 program
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 program
Paid work terms in a real engine room. The Georgian program 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 programs 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 programs 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 issues these marine certificates only to Canadian citizens and permanent residents, which keeps Canadian-trained engineers in demand on the domestic fleet.
In Quebec you go straight from Secondary V into a 4 year college diploma in marine engineering, taught in French in Rimouski. The Transport Canada certificates are the same.
Secondary V, with the right Secondary IV courses
Age 16 or 17
Secondary IV math in the TS (Technical and Scientific) or SN (Science) sequence, plus Secondary IV science and technology and environmental science, or the applied technology versions.
Marine Engineering Technology DEC (Diploma of College Studies, 248.D0)
4 years
4 years at the IMQ (Institut maritime du Québec) in Rimouski, in French, with English courses in two terms.
Sea internships
Inside the 4 years
About 10 months at sea in all, split into three periods, in the engine rooms of different types of ships.
Fourth class certificate
Near the end
Pass the Transport Canada exams for the fourth class marine engineer certificate, the same as elsewhere. Only Canadian citizens and permanent residents can hold it, though others may study.
Climb the classes
Years at sea
Experience, training and more exams move you up from fourth class, as in the rest of Canada.
Quebec counted about 600 marine engineer officer jobs in 2024 and rates the outlook for 2025 to 2029 as very good. The Quebec government lists a 92.3% placement rate for graduates of the marine engineering DEC (Diploma of College Studies). About 44% of jobs are in transportation and 14% in public administration, which includes the Canadian Coast Guard.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Higher classes of certificate
Each step from fourth class to first brings more responsibility.
Tanker and gas endorsements
Cargo systems training that unlocks tanker work.
Refrigeration and electrical tickets
Shipboard systems are increasingly electrical, and the specialists are scarce.
Dynamic positioning and offshore experience
Needed on offshore supply and construction vessels.
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.
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.
Job Bank counted only about 4,100 marine engineer officers working in all of Canada in 2023, and 36% of them were 50 or older.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Sea first, then the rest of the field. See every career in transport.
Last checked October 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. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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