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Ship Engineers: apprenticeship hours and pay
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Approved apprenticeship titles
One apprenticeship title on the Department of Labor's approved list fall under Ship Engineers, trained competency-based, hybrid, time-based. The shortest approved term is 3,726 hours, for Officer in Charge of an Engineering Watch (OICEW) (competency-based).
| Title | RAPIDS code | Approach and term |
|---|---|---|
| Officer in Charge of an Engineering Watch (OICEW) | 3005 | Competency-Based: 3,726 hours Hybrid: 3,726 to 5,716 hours Time-Based: 3,726 hours |
Time-based programs count hours on the job; competency-based programs move on when the apprentice shows the skills; hybrid programs use both, within a range of hours (29 CFR 29.5(b)(2)). Each registered program sets its own term inside what the approved title allows.
What ship engineers earn, by state
New York has the highest state median for ship engineers ($133,640) and Puerto Rico the lowest ($40,080), across the 25 states with a published figure.
| State | Median pay | Hourly | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $133,640 | $64.25 | 550 |
| Hawaii | $131,640 | $63.29 | 70 |
| Florida | $130,480 | $62.73 | 1,260 |
| Texas | $127,810 | $61.45 | 660 |
| Massachusetts | $122,720 | $59.00 | 150 |
| Indiana | $122,190 | $58.75 | 210 |
| Kentucky | $120,550 | $57.96 | Not published |
| Rhode Island | $119,330 | $57.37 | 50 |
| Connecticut | $119,010 | $57.22 | 50 |
| New Jersey | $118,310 | $56.88 | 170 |
| Illinois | $115,310 | $55.44 | 110 |
| Washington | $107,940 | $51.90 | 730 |
| Louisiana | $103,430 | $49.73 | 610 |
| Mississippi | $98,380 | $47.30 | 140 |
| South Carolina | $97,890 | $47.06 | 80 |
| California | $97,660 | $46.95 | 610 |
| Alabama | $96,030 | $46.17 | 50 |
| Oregon | $88,800 | $42.69 | 80 |
| Alaska | $88,190 | $42.40 | 420 |
| Virginia | $82,370 | $39.60 | 1,450 |
| Pennsylvania | $80,210 | $38.56 | 90 |
| Michigan | $79,170 | $38.06 | 100 |
| Maine | $77,160 | $37.10 | 30 |
| North Carolina | $65,010 | $31.26 | 90 |
| Puerto Rico | $40,080 | $19.27 | Not published |
Finding a program
The public sponsor file names the organizations that run registered apprenticeships but not the occupations each one trains, so this guide names no sponsor. Search apprenticeship.gov's Apprenticeship Finder for this title, or ask your American Job Center which local programs train it.
Apprenticeship sponsors by state (25,633) · All approved occupations
Sources: apprenticeship.gov approved occupations list (Last-Modified October 8, 2026); BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (all industries; blanks are figures BLS does not publish).