Considering a career in Maritime?
The Maritime sector is one of the largest in the SW and is worth £4 billion to the regional economy, with higher than average salaries and skills that enable employees choice and to work around the globe, often while positively impacting the environment and climate change. Globally the sector is set to triple in size by 2050 to 3.5 trillion dollars. In the SW the sector is expanding also, for example in the next 10 years offshore wind is predicted to create 5,000 new varied jobs and on top of this a further 7,500 required to service the UK submarine replacement program. From working at sea or in a port, to working as a maritime lawyer, to cleaning the oceans of plastics or designing a superyacht, maritime is big business, adding more to the economy than both rail and aviation combined.
If you are interested in getting more advice contacting your local college is a good place to start, with our project partners who have specialist course covering the sector:
Petroc College in North Devon
The South West Maritime Careers magazine
This is a magazine designed to inspire anyone considering maritime by looking at the breadth of careers available in the South West, from marine manufacturing, building new boats, ships and submarines to protecting wildlife like marine mammals and ocean science. The magazine is aimed at older children and their parents and provides links to specific video content.
MUKSW partner with Springpod to create SW specific virtual work experience
It isn’t always easy for employers to offer work experience, especially for younger people where access to ships, wind turbines or ports may create issues of safety. Equally some young people may find it hard to travel to a place of work or have other barriers to gaining appropriate experience. That’s why Maritime UK South West teamed up with Springpod to create virtual online work experience courses. The courses have excellent video content, link to school curricula and provide an excellent taster of what it is like to work in maritime.
South West specific video case studies
These videos give young people and career changers examples of people in fulfilling careers here in the South West. The videos are shown to young people in schools via SW careers hubs. This first series of six videos were funded by UK government through the Department for Transport Cluster Development Program.
If you would like a video to be created to promote careers in your company please contact sheldon.ryan@maritimeuksw.org
A&P Dockyard Falmouth Careers
Plymouth Marine Laboratory - careers as workboat skipper
Western Fish - careers in fisheries and marine engineering
Autonaut, careers in marine robotics and marine surveying
Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult careers, engineering
Solis Marine Careers - engineering consultants
Ian Godfrey, Marine Engineer
Ian is a chartered mechanical engineer with 17 years’ experience in the marine sector, working in wave and tidal energy, offshore wind, and new technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships. He runs his own business called Tope Ocean (named after a type of shark) who help to design and make solutions for the marine sector.
Route into Engineering: Ian took Maths, Art and Physics at A-level and then a Mechanical Engineering degree (with a focus on renewable energy and sustainability). Why Engineering? Ian wants to look after our oceans better and find ways to meet the challenges of global warming, pollution and decaying habitats with technology. He loves solving the problems that working with oceans bring.
General Maritime Sector video material
If you have video content that you think should form part of this collection or would like a video made to cover careers in your company please email sheldon.ryan@maritimeuksw.org
General early career case studies
Women in maritime
Workboats webinar
Workboats are any boat that isn’t carrying cargo. These often perform work around harbours and on offshore oil and gas platforms or on offshore wind turbines.
Maritime Business Services webinar
These are jobs including working in insurance or as lawyers or buying and selling ships
Shipping webinar video
These are jobs on ships which travel from country to country and can involve a wide range of careers from being a ships captain to being an engineer or deck worker.
Ports webinar video
Ports are all around the South West and offer a wide range of work.
Maritime Careers Webinar
Princess Yachts (who make luxury yachts that sell for millions of pounds), Babcock (who maintain the navy’s ships and submarines), City College Plymouth and the University of Plymouth Maritime Careers
Offshore Wind
The UK is a world leader in offshore wind. Up until recently most of the offshore wind turbines in the UK have been in the North Sea so jobs would require you to travel but within the next 3-6 years we will start to see huge turbines the size of the Eiffel Tower with blades 100M long being put into the sea between North Devon and Cornwall and Wales. This is predicted to create 5,000 varied, new, well paid jobs. Once established in the industry you will build skills that could take you around the world working on similar projects or could allow you to stay in the South West in a well paid and interesting career where you are also doing a huge amount to tackle climate change.
Offshore wind - Guy Martin
How a floating Offshore Wind Turbine is made
Offshore wind video
Tidal energy webinar
A Day In The Life Of A Wind Turbine Engineer
Living and working at sea: what’s it like to work on a Service Operations Vessel
Marine robotics (Marine autonomous systems)
Marine autonomous systems case study (American)
Marine autonomous systems software engineer (American)
Marine Autonomous Systems (detailed technical level)
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to captain a state-of-the-art research vessel?
Fisheries and aquaculture
Research roles in fisheries
What it's like to work in fishing
Fishing apprenticeship at South Devon College
Marine Manufacturing - Apprentice at Princess Yachts
Ocean Science - Working at Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Clean Maritime
All new ships will need to be zero carbon by 2050. This is a huge challenge but one that will clean our oceans and help reduce the impact of climate change. To do this ports will need to change as will the ships and boats that use them. Technologies are still in early stages so most of the videos we can offer show new technologies that are being developed. In 25 years time if you work in maritime you will be working with electric, methanol, hydrogen or ammonia fuels and a whole new industry – one in which you will have the skills!
Aqua superPower
