Pre-sea training certificate holders
A Director-General-approved pre-sea training course, plus the five basic STCW courses. This is the route an IMU CET student takes.
Your papers · Passport · INDOS · CDC · CoC · STCW
CDC, INDOS, CoC and STCW: The Merchant Navy Papers Explained
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Five documents stand between a student and a ship. This page explains each one in plain English — and the rule change on 1 August 2026 that every family needs to know about before they pay anyone.
Read this before you pay anyone
The five-courses shortcut to a CDC is closed.
For years agents sold a short route: do the five basic STCW safety courses, get a Continuous Discharge Certificate, go to sea. On 1 August 2026 the Government of India closed it.
DGS Order 12 of 2026, issued on 23 May 2026 under Section 301 of the Merchant Shipping Act 2025, discontinues the issue of an Indian CDC based only on the five basic courses. The order says why, in its own words: agents were luring young people from remote and economically vulnerable regions with false promises, charging heavy fees, keeping them in lodges for months without structured training, and putting them through the five short courses. Many were then placed on substandard ships, or never placed at all.
The numbers in the order are worth reading twice. About 3,50,000 people obtained an Indian CDC through that route. Nearly 1,80,000 of them have still never had their first shipboard job. The order also cites the International Transport Workers’ Federation: of the seafarers abandoned worldwide in 2024, 899 were Indian — more than double the year before — rising to 1,125 in 2025.
The order further directs that approved maritime training institutes must stop advertising standalone five-course packages as a route to a CDC, and that doing so may cost an institute its approval.
If you already hold a CDC issued before 1 August 2026, it remains valid and is unaffected. Applications submitted before that date are processed under the earlier rules. Read DGS Order 12 of 2026 in full.
From 1 August 2026
The six routes to an Indian CDC
An Indian CDC is now issued only to candidates in one of these categories. Every one of them also requires the five basic STCW courses — they are still necessary, they are simply no longer sufficient on their own.
Agniveer candidates
An Agniveer discharge certificate, plus the five basic STCW courses.
Hospitality candidates
A degree, diploma or certificate in hotel management or equivalent, plus the approved Orientation Course for Catering Personnel and the five basic courses. A narrow cruise-line route also exists, and a CDC issued under it is valid only for cruise and passenger vessels.
Ex-Indian Navy personnel
A valid discharge certificate, plus the five basic STCW courses.
Certified cooks
A Cook Certificate of Competency issued or recognised by the Government of India, plus the five basic courses.
Certificate of Competency holders
A CoC issued or recognised by the Government of India, plus the five basic courses.
Source: DGS Order 12 of 2026, paragraph 14.2. Summarised here in plain English; the order itself governs.
What each paper is
The five documents, in the order you get them
Passport
First, and before anything else. Nothing in this career starts without one, and the CDC application needs it. Apply early — it is the step students most often leave too late.
INDOS number
The Indian National Database of Seafarers number. An eight-character identifier, issued once and yours for life, that appears on every certificate you will ever hold. It is required before you can apply for a CDC, and it is your login to the maritime administration portal.
CDC — Continuous Discharge Certificate
The booklet that records every ship you join and every ship you leave. It is your service record and your seafarer identity document, and you cannot legally join a merchant ship for an international voyage without one. Issued by the Shipping Master. Valid ten years, renewable on expiry or in the year before it.
CoC — Certificate of Competency
The licence that says what rank you may hold. Issued by the maritime administration under the STCW Convention after you have the sea time and have passed the examination. Valid five years, then revalidated. Employers are required to verify a CoC on the official website, so a forged one is found.
STCW
The International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers. It is the reason an Indian certificate is accepted on a German ship in a Brazilian port. The five basic safety courses — PST, FPFF, EFA, PSSR and STSDSD — come from it, and so does every certificate above them.
What this means for an IMU CET student
The long route is now the only route, and it always was the better one.
A student who clears IMU CET and joins a Director-General-approved pre-sea course — DNS, B.Sc Nautical Science or B.Tech Marine Engineering — is in the first category on the list above. That route was unaffected by the change, because it is the route the change was protecting.
This is also why we have never sold a shortcut. If anyone offers your family a quick CDC for a fee, ask them which paragraph of DGS Order 12 of 2026 they are relying on.
How to verify a Merchant Navy institute · The career ladder · The trades you can sail · Myths and facts about life at sea
Checked against the Directorate General of Maritime Administration on 26 September 2026. Maritime rules change, and this page is a summary, not legal advice. Confirm anything that affects a decision against the official orders on the DG Shipping website, or ask us and we will look it up with you. Call +91 77365 22210.
The route that still works starts with IMU CET.
Check your eligibility, then apply for NEST, our IMU CET model test.