If you’ve landed on this article, you probably have tons of questions about working in the marine transportation industry and are wondering if this is a career path worth pursuing.

Good news – you have come to the right place! Whether you're an entry-level professional or well-established in another industry and looking for a career change, this article is for you!

In this article, we’ll be covering the following topics:

1. What Is The Marine Transportation Industry?
2. What Companies Are In The Marine Transportation Field?
3. What Are The Job Options In Marine Transportation?
4. What Are The Skills Needed For Marine Transportation?
5. What Do Marine Transportation Jobs Pay?
6. Is Marine Transportation A Good Career Path? (Our Verdict)
7. How To Build A Job-Winning Marine Transportation Resume

Let’s dig in!

What Is The Marine Transportation Industry?

Marine transportation is the overwater transportation of goods through seas, oceans, and rivers. This industry plays a crucial role in global trade, specifically in supporting the import and export of commodities like oil, natural gas, and various bulk and consumer goods.

Companies in the marine transportation field manage fleets of vessels, including container ships, tankers, and bulk carriers. They ensure efficient and safe transportation of goods across international waters.

What Companies Are In The Marine Transportation Field?

Here are some examples of major players in the marine transportation sector:

• Container Shipping: Companies like Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), and CMA CGM operate large fleets of container ships that transport goods globally.
• Oil and Gas Tankers: Firms like Teekay, Frontline, and Scorpio Tankers specialize in transporting oil and natural gas.
• Bulk Carriers: Organizations like Star Bulk Carriers, Genco Shipping & Trading, and Golden Ocean Group handle the transportation of bulk materials such as ore, coal, and grains.

What Are The Job Options In Marine Transportation?

The marine transportation industry offers a variety of roles, including:

Jobs Onboard Vessels

• Chief Engineer Marine: Responsible for the mechanical operations of the ship, including the maintenance of engines and other systems.
• Deck Officers: Assist in navigating the ship and handling its operations during voyages.

Jobs Onshore

• Maritime Logistics Specialist: Manages logistics operations to ensure efficient loading, unloading, and scheduling of shipments.
• Port Manager: Oversees operations at seaports, including cargo handling and vessel traffic.
• Maritime Safety Officer: Ensures compliance with national and international safety regulations for maritime operations.

What Are The Skills Needed For Marine Transportation?

Here are the required skills for the most common roles in the marine transportation industry:

Entry-Level Roles:

• Mechanical Knowledge: Crucial for engineers to manage and maintain ship machinery and systems.
• Logistics Planning: Important for coordinators to optimize shipping routes and schedules.

Mid-Senior Manager Roles:

• Leadership: The ability to lead and manage crew and operations effectively.
• Strategic Thinking: Developing strategies for efficient maritime operations and crisis management.
• Regulatory Compliance: Ensuring all operations adhere to maritime laws and standards.

Mid-Senior Technical Roles:

• Advanced Engineering Skills: In-depth knowledge of ship systems and the ability to troubleshoot complex issues.
• Crisis Management: Handling emergencies and unexpected situations effectively.
• Environmental Awareness: Implementing practices to minimize the environmental impact of maritime operations.

Finding Your Fit With Marine Transportation Roles

To find out if you are the right fit for a role in the marine transportation industry, follow these steps:

1. Head over to LinkedIn and search for marine transportation industry roles.
2. Copy the job description of the role that sparked your interest.
3. Head over to ResyMatch.io (or use our shortcut below)
4. Grab a copy of your most updated resume.
5. Upload your resume on the left side.
6. Paste the job description on the right side.
7. Hit “Start Resume Scan.”

Boom! ResyMatch will compare and score your resume versus the job description and identify skill gaps.

ResyMatch will also provide best practices you can use to improve your resume and will ensure that your resume is ATS compliant (ATS is a software that recruiters use to track candidates through their hiring process).

Use our shortcut below to get started:

Step 1

Copy/paste or upload your resume here:

Click here to paste text

or

Upload a PDF, Word Doc, or TXT File

UPLOAD RESUME

Step 2

Paste the job post's details here:

Job Title Industry

Job Description

Step 3

Scan to compare and score your resume vs the job's description.

START RESUME SCAN

Or see a sample resume scan

Scanning...

What Do Marine Transportation Jobs Pay?

Now that we’ve covered the most common jobs in the marine transportation industry, you might be wondering how much these roles pay.

To answer this question, let’s head over to one of our favorite tools for salary research: Glassdoor.

Glassdoor is one of the world’s top job and recruiting websites where users can anonymously provide information about their companies – including their current salary. Glassdoor provides an average salary range for various roles based on the information sent by its users.

According to Glassdoor, the base salary for the most common marine transportation industry jobs in 2025 are:

• Chief Engineer Marine: $118K – $186K / year base pay (USD)
• Deck Officer: $54K – $95K / year base pay (USD)
• Maritime Logistics Specialist: $48K – $81K / year base pay (USD)
• Port Manager: $85K – $146K / year base pay (USD)

Best Paying Jobs In Marine Transportation Compared To The Average U.S. Salary In 2024

Now, let's check what that looks like compared to the average U.S. salary.

According to the Social Security Administration, the average salary in the U.S. is $63,795.

This is what the best-paying jobs in the marine transportation industry look like when we put them in perspective:

Is Marine Transportation A Good Career Path? (Our Verdict)

Marine transportation is a good career path for individuals interested in global commerce, logistics, and maritime operations.

This industry is critical for global trade and offers diverse roles that can be both financially rewarding and personally satisfying.

If you feel like this might be the career path for you, then be sure to dive into the next section where we will cover the best strategies to help you land a job in the field:

How To Build A Job-Winning Marine Transportation Resume

Here's a fact most people don't usually realize: you don't need traditional experience to take on a new role.

You can leverage your unique background, experiences, and skills for nearly any position, as long as you sell it.

Think about your resume as an advertisement for yourself. Like any ad, you want it to be compelling and visually attractive, right?

That's exactly what you will do with your resume!

You will start by:

1. Leveraging The Best Keywords For Your Target Role

Remember ResyMatch.io, that resume and job description scanner tool we mentioned earlier in this article?

We first showed you how you can scan and compare your resume with your target job description to find out how your skills match the role.

However, if you don't have a resume yet, you can still get great insight from this tool by running a job description scan.

Here's how: head over to ResyMatch.io and, in “Scan Type,” select “Job Description Scanner.” Then, copy the job description for your target role and paste it into the box on the left.

ResyMatch.io will provide a list of hard and soft skills that apply to the role. You can use these skills as keywords when building your resume.

Skim through the list to get ideas for keywords you can leverage on your resume.

For example, let's say you are an innovative and analytical individual. Are there any previous experiences, personal projects, or even academic achievements that you can showcase in your resume to highlight these skills?

If yes, then make sure to include those on your resume and then move on to the next step:

2. Writing Compelling Resume Bullets

This is where you'll start crafting a resume that sells!

You'll want your resume bullets to have just the right amount of hard and soft skills, action words, measurable results, and common words.

This means a compelling marine transportation industry resume bullet for someone applying for a Deck Officer role might look something like this:

Spearheaded the implementation of a navigation protocol that reduced fuel consumption by 15%.

This bullet focuses on specific hard and soft skills that apply to a Deck Officer while also showcasing measurable results!

To help you write the perfect resume bullet, we've created ResyBullet.io, a free resume bullet analyzer that helps you write your resume in a way that grabs attention and illustrates value. Simply copy and paste your resume bullet below to begin your analysis:

Free Resume Bullet Analyzer

Learn to write crazy effective resume bullets that grab attention, illustrate value, and actually get results.

Copy and paste your resume bullet to begin analysis:

Click To Analyze!

ResyBullet will analyze and score your resume bullet and give you actionable insights for improvement.

Here's how our marine transportation industry resume bullet scored on ResyBullet:

If you're a visual learner, check out our video that walks you through the step-by-step of writing a crazy-effective resume bullet:

3. Make Your Resume Visually Appealing

The last step is to take all of your content and apply it to a layout that is both easy to read and visually appealing. We recommend using a resume template so you can save the time you would normally spend designing your resume and instead allocate it to other high-value activities in your job search (like interview prep and networking).

You can use ResyBuild.io, a free resume builder, to easily build and customize your resume in no time. Just pick one of the templates below and get started:

Free Job-Winning Resume Templates, Build Yours In No Time.

Choose a resume template below to get started:

Choose from 8 proven templates and easily create, edit, and customize your resume. ResyBuild's AI assistant also helps you craft personalized, job-winning bullets in a single click. Simply add your experience, hit “Optimize”, and watch the magic happen.

Ready To Pursue A Marine Transportation Career Path?

Then check out our No Experience, No Problem course and access a proven framework for building the skills and results you need to break into a new industry (even if you have absolutely no relevant experience right now)!