Ship Officers and Marine Pilots

How to become a Deck Officer

Official Chinese title (2022 occupational classification): 甲板部技术人员

Commands and navigates a ship, handles communications, loading, unloading and care of cargo, and works on ship operations management and related maritime matters.

Main tasks

Navigating the ship and keeping navigational watches
Managing ship operations and organising training and drills
Preparing and checking stowage plans, overseeing loading and unloading, and looking after cargo
Using and looking after navigation instruments, communications and navigation equipment and charts and publications
Carrying out radio communications by the rules
Arranging the maintenance of the hull, emergency equipment and deck equipment
Finding and fixing faults in navigation aids, electrical equipment and some deck machinery
Writing maritime reports and accident reports
Keeping the ship's log and all kinds of records

Ways in

University: Engineering degrees, Offered by 105 universities in China Related undergraduate subject classes in the Ministry of Education catalogue (2025): Transportation (0818); majors such as Marine Navigation, Transportation, Traffic Engineering, Marine Engineering, Flight Technology, Transportation Equipment and Control Engineering. Matched to the occupation by Peernovo.
Vocational majors: Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Marine Navigation Technology (500301). Vocational major 500301 Marine Navigation Technology (航海技术), 3 years. The Ministry of Education's 2022 major profiles list this occupation among those the major prepares students for (职业面向). Example certificates: Seafarer Qualification.; Vocational bachelor (职业本科) major: Marine Navigation Technology (300301). Vocational major 300301 Marine Navigation Technology (航海技术), 4 years. The Ministry of Education's 2022 major profiles list this occupation among those the major prepares students for (职业面向).
National qualification: Licence to practise: Seafarer Qualification (including fishing vessel crew). You need this qualification to work in the job. Listed in the national vocational qualifications catalogue (国家职业资格目录, 2021) as Seafarer Qualification (including fishing vessel crew) (船员资格（含船员、渔业船员）), run by Ministry of Transport; Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Peernovo links it to this occupation.

AI and this job

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

The census group Aircraft and Ship Technical Personnel holds 0.02% of everyone employed in China; 7% of its workers are women (2020 Census).
43.1% are under 35, 46.7% are 35 to 54 and 10.2% are 55 or older. The middle age band is 35 to 39.
Census figures for the whole mid group (2020 long-form sample), not for this job alone.

Questions people ask

How do I become a Deck Officer?

Ways in include: Engineering degrees; Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Marine Navigation Technology (500301); Vocational bachelor (职业本科) major: Marine Navigation Technology (300301).

Will AI change the work of a Deck Officer?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

National Bureau of Statistics of China: China Population Census Yearbook 2020, long-form tables 4-6 and 4-7 (employed by occupation mid group, sex, age) (2020 Census long form (10% sample)), retrieved 4 October 2026
International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Sources: Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition, public consultation draft), Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, State Administration for Market Regulation and National Bureau of Statistics; Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 2025 enterprise pay survey information; Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2025 labour market wage prices; National Bureau of Statistics of China (www.stats.gov.cn), 2020 Population Census yearbook; Ministry of Education, vocational education major profiles (2022 revision) and undergraduate major catalogue (2025); Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, national vocational qualifications catalogue (2021); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Figures processed by Peernovo. English text, translations and the matching of occupations to ISCO-08, majors, degree fields and qualifications by Peernovo.

Descriptions and tasks are Peernovo's own words, written from the facts in the Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition). Job titles and work types are the classification's own.

Updated 4 October 2026