NAME: LAMA AJAWI

ID: 201101603

WORD COUNT: 1545

NAME: LAMA MAZEN

AJAWI
ID: 201101604
SEA CAPTAIN

NAME: LAMA AJAWI

ID: 201101603

WORD COUNT: 1545

A Sea Captain

Interview:
I interviewed Mr. Mazen Ajawi, who is a sea captain at United Arab Shipping
Company (UASC) on Monday March 30th 2015 at 7:35 pm at his house. I asked Mr.
Ajawi ten questions about his current job and the findings were as follows:
Mr. Ajawi spent 4 years and a half for obtaining his second officer certificate, 2 years
and a half for obtaining his chief officer certificate and 3 years to obtain master

NAME: LAMA AJAWI

ID: 201101603

WORD COUNT: 1545

mariner certificate; a total of nine years study. At the moment he is working at

UASC, which is ranked as the best 19th shipping company in the world
(moggom.com, 2012). UASC is a shipping company that only operates vessels,
which is headquarted in Kuwait and it runs its fleet from Dubai (Boonzaier, 2006).
This company was founded in 1978 by the government of KSA, UAE, Qatar, Iraq,
Bahrain and Kuwait (Alam, 2012). Mr. Ajawi went through a long process to become
a captain and had lots of tasks to carry out. He started as follows:
Salary
Position

Responsibilities Assigned

(approxima
tely)

Navigating the ship at sea for 8 hours a

day.
Loading and discharging cargo for (8 12

hours) a day at port.

All firefighting and safety equipment on

board the vessel.

Any other duties that are instructed by

Third
Navigating
Officer

BD 1200

the captain.

Second
Navigating

Navigating the ship at sea for 8 hours a

day.
Loading and discharging cargo for (8 12

hours) a day at port.

Planning and drawing all the navigational
courses and maintenance of the

Officer

BD 1800

navigational charts on board the ship.

Any other duties that are instructed by
the captain.

Chief Officer

Navigating the ship at sea for 8 hours a

day.
Running the ships crew.
The ships officers
Loading and discharging the cargo plan.
Maintaining the ships hull, gear and

equipment.
Any other duties that are instructed by

BD 2800

NAME: LAMA AJAWI

ID: 201101603

WORD COUNT: 1545

the captain.
The captain is the god of the ship. He is responsible
for the safety of the crew on board the ship, safety
Captain

of the ship itself, safe loading and discharging of

BD 4000

the cargo and in charge of all matters related to the

daily running of the ship.

Mr. Ajawi said that he personally thinks that the most experienced academies
specialized in the marine science are based in the United Kingdom and Egypt; for
instance the Liverpool Nautical College in UK and the Arab Maritime Transport
Academy (AMTA) in Egypt.
Some of the difficulties that could be faced when having this job are the long
working hours on daily basis which could reach up to 20 hours a day, severe
weather conditions at sea, such as: storms and gale forces and staying away from
home and family for a long time which could reach up to 7-8 months.
Mr. Ajawi stated that his reason behind picking this degree over the others is that
sea life for him is a new different type of life that involves travelling to lots of
countries, meeting different people and experiencing various cultures, besides the
income factor. In addition to that, he highlighted the required skills for this job;
problem solving, self-managing, decision making, resilient, patient and time
management, IT and administrative are all critical skills that are highly
recommended for this job. He also shared some of the benefits he gained from
being a captain, for example: he experienced different cultures, met new people
and made friendships in many countries and learnt how to handle various cases in
life. Mr. Ajawi was given a scholarship from United Arab Shipping Company (UASC)
to complete his studies and work for them. At the end of the interview Mr. Ajawi
stated that the merchant navy needs high school graduated men since it is a career
which is mainly occupied by foreigners; however, ladies are not really welcomed in
this field because of the tough and unsuitable conditions that they might go through
when having this job and especially if they are planning to create a family of their
own someday.

NAME: LAMA AJAWI

ID: 201101603

WORD COUNT: 1545

Independent Research:
Being a sea captain is not an easy journey in comparison to other degrees. It
requires students to have a bachelor degree in one of the following courses: Marine
transportation, marine engineering, maritime operations and technology, transport
and logistics and many other courses that take around 4 years and 3 to 4 years of
experience as a deck officer in order to be qualified as a ship captain (study.com,
2015). It also requires a wide range of skills such as: communication, problem
solving, being adaptable to various circumstances, managerial and customer
service skills (study.com, 2015). According to Manu (2009), the sea captain is
responsible for the whole ship and the safety and security of all crew, cargo and
anything else on board. He is in charge of the machinery and engines, stevedores
salaries and ensures that the policies and the maritime regulations are followed
accurately. Ship captains are exposed to face bad weather conditions at sea and
stay away from their families for long time periods; however, they could still have
long holiday allowance and they are highly paid; their salaries around $119,280 per
year as it is cited by Charpentier (2015). Harvard University, University of
California, Berkeley (UCB), California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are all the top US universities in the
world that offer marine sciences degree that result in becoming a ship captain or
merchant mariner as stated by Topuniversities.com, ( 2015). According to AGCAS
(2013), Females have played a significant role as merchant navy officers recently
due to the increasing number that this field has witnessed.
There was a lack of information when researching some of the areas about this job
and these areas were:

The salaries obtained before the higher studies

Responsibilities during each position before being a sea captain.
Reasons behind choosing a sea captain degree among the other degrees.
The process of getting a job.

I did not expect that I will have this huge gap of missed information regarding this
job. This is because the assignments that relate to the maritime field have lots of
various and rich references sources available on the internet due to my humble

NAME: LAMA AJAWI

ID: 201101603

WORD COUNT: 1545

experience that I had through doing such assignments that relate to my major
logistics, I thought the positions offered in this field will have an equivalent share
of information but obviously I was mistaken.

Analysis:
Most of the information gathered from interviewing Mr. Ajawi and the research done
in the following areas are similar or very close to each other; difficulties faced, the
captains salary, skills required and benefits gained of the job, the responsibilities
and liabilities assigned to the sea captain and the years taken to become a sea
captain. According to Topuniversities.com (2015), most of the best marine
universities today are located in US; however, Mr. Ajawi ranked both of Liverpool
Nautical College and the Arab Maritime Transport Academy (AMTA) as best marine
universities based on his own perception. This is probably due to the fact that Mr.
Ajawi believes that Egypt had really good universities at that time due to the
intellectual renaissance that Egypt was going through back then. The other reason
is that United Arab Shipping Company, which is one of the top leading shipping
companies in the Middle East and the world, was first based and handled in
Liverpool and that gave him another perception of that the marine colleges and
universities in Liverpool would be the best in the maritime field.
The maritime industry is witnessing an increase of female numbers despite that Mr.
Ajawi opposes or does not prefer the idea of having females as merchant navy
officers in that field. This is because the marine life as he stated is not suitable for
females with specific believes, cultures and traditions because of the summer
uniform, the partying on board the ship and the different ways of harassments they
might get exposed to.

Conclusion:
According to the qualifications and life experience that I have, I do not find myself
ready and suitable yet for being a sea captain at UASC, this is due to the many
steps and stages that I need to go through in order for me to approach this position.

NAME: LAMA AJAWI

ID: 201101603

WORD COUNT: 1545

For instance, I need to finish my logistics bachelor first and then get specialized in
the maritime field by doing a master degree. After that I would need to obtain the
three certificates that Mr. Ajawi gained, which are: the second officer certificate,
chief officer certificate and master mariner certificate. Furthermore, I would need to
practice this job and get trained for 10 years in order to be prepared and ready for
this position because Mr. Ajawi studies were not only theoretical they were practical
as well. This training period would definitely enhance my skills and make me
qualified for the position. The passion I have towards this job would not prevent me
of thinking reasonably; having such a job would not be suitable for females raised
on certain traditions and believes and plan to have a family in the future, because
they will have to leave their families behind for long periods and might face
harassments due to the different backgrounds and environments people come from.

NAME: LAMA AJAWI

ID: 201101603

WORD COUNT: 1545

Appendix:

Interview Questions:

1. How long did it take you to get your sea captains certificate?
2. What were your responsibilities and liabilities during each position
you went through?
3. What universities had you thought of when doing your degree and
masters?
4. What is the salary range for your job before and after your higher
studies?
5. What difficulties do you face when you do your job?
6. What was the reason behind choosing this degree over the others?
7. What are the skills needed for being a captain?
8. What are the experiences or benefits gained from this job?
9. How did you get this job?
10.
What advices and recommendations do you have for people
interested in this degree?

NAME: LAMA AJAWI

ID: 201101603

WORD COUNT: 1545

References:
AGCAS.(2013).Merchant navy officer. Retrieved from
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/merchant_navy_officer_salary.htm
Alam.K.(2012). United Arab Shipping joins the frontline as other shipping companies
retreat. Retrieved from http://tribune.com.pk/story/480252/united-arabshipping-joins-the-frontline-as-other-shipping-companies-retreat/
Boonzaier.J.(2006). UASC is sticking to home ground. Retrieved from
http://www.tradewindsnews.com/weekly/w2006-10-27/223783/uasc-issticking-to-home-ground#
Charpentier.W.(2015). The Average Salary of a Ship Captain. Retrieved from
http://work.chron.com/average-salary-ship-captain-8717.html

Manu.(2009). Sea Captain: Master of the Ship. Retrieved from

http://www.brighthubengineering.com/seafaring/29397-sea-captain-master-ofthe-ship/# /https://www.sokanu.com/careers/ship-captain/
moggom.com.(2012). Top 30 Container Shipping Lines in the World. Retrieved from
http://www.moggom.com/top-30-container-shipping-lines-in-the-world
study.com.(2015). Become a Ship Captain: Education Requirements and Career
Overview. Retrieved from http://study.com/become_a_ship_captain.html
study.com.(2015). Ship Captain: Job Duties and Information About Becoming a
Ship Captain. Retrieved from
http://study.com/articles/Ship_Captain_Job_Duties_and_Information_About_
Becoming_a_Ship_Captain.html
Topuniversities.com.(2015). QS World University Rankings by Subject 2014 - Earth &
Marine Sciences. Retrieved from http://www.topuniversities.com/university-

NAME: LAMA AJAWI

ID: 201101603

WORD COUNT: 1545

rankings/university-subject-rankings/2014/earth-marinesciences#sorting=rank+region=+country=+faculty=+stars=false+search=