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Maritime & Shipping vocabulary · Crew & Ranks

Chief officer

Meaning in maritime & shipping, with examples

nounCore term

In maritime & shipping, chief officer means: The senior deck officer, second in command after the master. The chief officer is usually responsible for cargo work, stability, deck maintenance and the deck crew.

In Turkish: birinci zabit

How it is used

Also called 'chief mate' or simply 'the mate', and written C/O in messages. On many ships the chief officer keeps the 04–08 watch at sea and supervises loading and discharging in port.

Example sentences

  1. The chief officer prepared the stowage plan and checked the stability.

  2. Please send the cargo figures to the chief officer before the draught survey.

Common collocations

  • report to the chief officer
  • chief officer's watch
  • promoted to chief officer
  • chief mate
  • masterThe officer in overall command of a merchant ship, legally responsible for the safety of the ship, crew, passengers and cargo. In everyday speech the master is called the captain.
  • stowage planA plan that shows where each part of the cargo will be placed on a ship, taking into account weight, stability, discharge ports and dangerous goods.
  • bosunThe senior deck rating, who leads the deck crew in maintenance, mooring and cargo work and takes daily orders from the chief officer.
  • officer of the watch (OOW)The deck or engineer officer in charge of a watch. On the bridge, the OOW represents the master and is responsible for safe navigation during that watch.

More terms: Crew & Ranks

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