India sails past China with 27% more officers steering the world’s ships

India has sailed past China in supplying merchant shipping officers, even as its northern rival continues to dominate global shipping tonnage, at a time when escalating security risks are reshaping the profession.

Indian officers, from entry-level positions such as deck cadet to the most senior rank of master, now number 140,718, about 27% more than 110,893 Chinese officers, according to the BIMCO-ICS Seafarer Workforce Report 2026, published in June. While China has more non-officer crew, known as ratings, who perform in deck, engineroom and other essential roles that keep ships running, combining both officers and ratings, India has 311,936 seafarers, marginally ahead of China and accounting for about 12% of the global seafaring workforce.

India ranks second only to the Philippines, the world’s biggest source of seafarers.

“Indian officers are well regarded for their technical competence, command of English, leadership qualities and ability to operate in multicultural environments,” said M Angamuthu, chairman, Mumbai Port Authority. Referring to the crisis in West Asia, which has claimed the lives of 10 Indian seafarers since February, he said temporary regional disruptions were unlikely to diminish the long-term appeal of a career at sea. “Young professionals continue to recognise the merchant navy as a rewarding global profession,” he said.

Angamuthu said it offers excellent career prospects, global exposure and professional growth. Sauhard Nautiyal, captain of a Malta-flagged oilchemical tanker, said the depreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar had made a career at sea even more lucrative, despite a near-freeze in salary hikes for merchant navy officers over the past several years.

“On average, the monthly salary of an entry-level officer, say a third officer, is about $3,000 (about Rs 2.85 lakh), whereas a senior master of an oil tanker receives a minimum of $15,000 (about Rs 14.3 lakh) per month,” he said, adding that salaries of officers on bulk carriers and container ships are marginally lower than those on tankers.

Nautiyal echoed Angamuthu, saying Indian officers are highly valued for their competence and work ethic, with fluency in English providing an added advantage. “If an Italian-owned ship, for example, runs under the flag of Malta, the captain of the ship does not necessarily need to know the Italian language. Such arrangements do help more number of Indian officers getting recruited in ships earlier manned mostly by Europeans,” he said.