Is Your OOW Ticket About to Get Easier — or Just Cheaper to Get?

For the first time in a generation, the international body that governs what it takes to become a qualified deck officer is proposing to reduce the sea time required. If the amendment passes, Officer of the Watch (OOW) candidates could qualify after nine months at sea instead of twelve — with simulator training permitted to fill the gap. For anyone mid-training, already qualified, or about to start, this is worth understanding fully before you form an opinion on it.

What the IMO Is Actually Proposing

The sub-committee discussion at IMO level concerns the STCW II/1 standard — the certification benchmark for OOW Deck on vessels of 500 GT or more. The current minimum is twelve months of approved sea service. The proposal would cut this to nine months, with the remaining time allowable through simulator training.

This isn't starting from zero. STCW already permits limited simulator credit: five days of approved simulator time can already count as fifteen days of sea service, with a cap of ten simulator days for first Certificate of Competency applicants. The new proposal would extend that credit window significantly — effectively allowing three months of a seafarer's qualifying period to happen ashore in a controlled training environment.

The driver, according to industry observers, isn't a sudden leap forward in simulator technology. It's a more uncomfortable reality: there aren't enough training berths to meet demand. Cadet numbers have grown in many countries while the number of available vessels with proper cadet supervision structures has not kept pace.

Why the UK Is Pushing Back

The UK Maritime Professional Council published a formal paper questioning the change — an unusual and deliberate public challenge to an IMO sub-committee decision. Their position, plainly stated: no reduction in sea service should happen without robust evidence that competence will not decline and risk will not increase.

The MPC argument rests on what simulators cannot replicate. You can model a storm on screen. You can simulate a man overboard, a bridge fire, a blackout at 0300. What you cannot simulate is sustained fatigue over weeks, the psychological weight of sole responsibility on a night watch, the social complexity of a multinational crew under pressure, or the thousand small decisions that accumulate into genuine watchkeeping instinct. These things are earned on deck, not in a training room.

The MPC also notes something the IMO sub-committee didn't adequately address: the change was discussed and agreed without a published safety evidence base. In an industry that rightly demands evidence for everything from ECDIS type-approval to STCW medical fitness, the absence of a competence study before a certification change is a significant gap.

What This Means for You Right Now

Nothing has changed yet — and nothing will change quickly. STCW amendments require a Diplomatic Conference and go through a full review cycle that typically takes years from sub-committee discussion to implementation. You are being trained to the current standard, and the current standard is what flag states will continue to apply until any amendment enters force.

The UK's formal position — if maintained — could mean the MCA holds to twelve months even if IMO sets a nine-month minimum, as flag states are entitled to apply higher standards than the international floor. Several other maritime nations may take a similar view.

What's useful to do now: note your flag state's position, keep your sea service records meticulously documented on a platform like Crew Connect where your qualifying sea time is verifiable, and watch the STCW review cycle through IMO's HTW sub-committee for further updates.

The deeper argument this opens is one the industry will have for years: as simulation technology genuinely improves, at what point does the distinction between simulated and real experience meaningfully blur? That answer will shape the STCW standards of the 2030s — and the calibre of officers serving on vessels today's cadets will eventually command.