Matrose
Also called AB, dayworker, able seaman
Matroses are members of the deck department of an inland water transportship. They may work on the helm, on the deck, in the cargo hold and in the engine room. They may be called on to use emergency, lifesaving, damage control, and safety equipment. They perform all operations connected with the launching of lifesaving equipment and are expected to be able to operate deck machinery, mooring and anchoring equipment.
What you'd do
Ships' deck crews and related workers · ILO- Standing look-out watches at sea and when entering or leaving harbour or other narrow waters
- Steering ship according to instructions
- Handling ropes and wires, and operates mooring equipment
- Maintaining and, in some cases, operating ship’s equipment, cargo gear, rigging, lifesaving and firefighting appliances
- Performing deck and hull cleaning, scraping, painting and other maintenance duties as required
- Breaking out, rigging and stowing cargo-handling gear, stationary rigging and running gear
- Mostly outdoors
- A mix of sitting and standing
- Lots of contact with people
- Good freedom to decide
- Often more than 40 hours a week
- Deadlines most weeks
- Some repetitive tasks
Will there be jobs?
Limited prospectsFewer jobs than in most work will need filling by 2035.
Solid: measured. Dashed: forecast.
What does it pay?
About averagePay depends a lot on the country: from about €1,000 a month (Bulgaria) to €5,100 (Denmark), before tax.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see typical pay there, for people under 30, and compared with all jobs.
Among plant and machine operators, and assemblers in the EU, women earn 21% less per hour than men. Plant and machine operators, and assemblers · Eurostat
What do I need to study?
Upper secondary or vocationalUpper secondary or vocational training in transport services is the usual route.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see where to study and the official course finders.
Will AI change it?
Very littleAI could help with only small parts of the tasks.
Average task score 0.14 on a scale from 0 (AI can't do it) to 1 (AI could do it fully).
See the score for each of the 6 tasks
Based on what AI could technically do when assessed in 2025. It is not a forecast for a future year, and not a forecast of job losses. Scores for ships' deck crews and related workers. Source: ILO (2025), adapted (credits).