Platform supply vessels do unglamorous but essential work. Without them, offshore drilling and production operations cannot function. Understanding what the work involves, what it pays and how to get into it is where a realistic offshore career starts.
What PSV Work Involves
A platform supply vessel makes runs between a supply base ashore and an offshore installation. It loads cargo at the base, transits offshore, discharges alongside or close to the installation, takes on any return cargo and heads back. This cycle runs continuously.
Deck cargo includes containers, loose equipment, pipes, anything the installation needs. Bulk cargo in tanks includes diesel fuel, potable water, drilling fluids and brine. The vessel’s deck crew and officers manage both.
DP approach is the technically demanding part. The installation is a fixed or floating structure. Approaching it in wave conditions requires DP operation. The officer on watch uses the DP system to hold position while cargo transfer happens. Too close and there is a collision risk. Too far and the crane cannot reach. The margins are real and the consequences of errors are serious.
Night operations, reduced visibility, sea states that would have a cargo ship officer thinking about reducing speed: these are normal operating conditions on a North Sea PSV in autumn. The vessels are designed for it and the officers are trained for it but the environment is not mild.
Ranks and Responsibilities
Ordinary Seaman and Able Seaman: deck work, mooring operations, cargo handling, maintenance. On PSVs the deck crew are involved in cargo operations in a more active way than on many cargo vessels.
Bosun: leads the deck crew, responsible for deck maintenance and cargo operations under the chief officer.
Third Officer and Second Officer: bridge watchkeeping, DP watch, cargo operations supervision. On smaller PSVs there may only be two deck officers below the master.
Chief Officer: head of the deck department. Cargo planning and operations, stability, DP operations management, crew management.
Master: command of the vessel, DP operations at master level, relationship management with the offshore installation, company reporting.
Chief Engineer and engineers: engine room operations, DP thruster and power management, maintenance.
Pay
Monthly figures for North Sea operations which represent the higher end of the global market:
Able Seaman: $2,500 to $4,000. Notably higher than cargo ship AB rates.
Chief Officer: $8,000 to $13,000.
Master: $10,000 to $16,000.
Chief Engineer: $9,000 to $14,000.
Gulf of Mexico and other international markets pay less than North Sea rates. West African and Southeast Asian operations pay at the lower end of the offshore scale.
The DP Certificate
Without a DP certificate, advancement in offshore vessel careers is limited. Watchkeeping officers who want to progress in the sector need it.
The Nautical Institute administers the DP certification scheme. The process involves completing an introductory course, logging DP sea time in an approved sea time logbook, completing an induction course, accumulating more sea time, then completing the final confirmation of competence.
The total time from starting the process to holding the full DP certificate is typically one to two years depending on how sea time accumulates. Starting early in an offshore career is worth doing because the sea time requirement cannot be compressed.
How to Apply
Manning agencies with offshore sector specialisation are the primary route. General maritime agencies occasionally have offshore positions but agencies that work primarily with offshore operators have better access and more consistent vacancies.
Direct applications to offshore vessel operators are worth making alongside agency approaches. Bourbon Offshore, DOF Subsea, Solstad Offshore, Tidewater, SEACOR are among the major operators. All of them have their own crewing structures and process applications directly as well as through agencies.
The DP logbook being started before the first offshore application significantly improves prospects. Officers who arrive at the offshore sector with their introductory DP course completed and their logbook started are easier to place than those who have not started the process.