Athens-based owner and manager of LNG carriers and FSRUs, including ice-class Arc4/Arc7 tonnage; sponsor of NYSE-listed Dynagas LNG Partners.
I applied directly by email with LPG chief engineer experience and dual-fuel background. The office reviewed the CV, passed it to their agency, and the process ran: standardised tests, a long technical interview covering conventions, boilers, steering, engine protections and oil standards, then an interview with the crew superintendent about plans and history, and another with the technical superintendent about engines and cargo systems. The offer was Trainee Chief Engineer — reasonable for a first LNG contract — followed by internal courses on the reliquefaction plant, management systems and vetting. I joined a 2024-built ME-GA vessel. The pipeline is demanding and slow, but nothing about it felt like a lottery.
I sailed with a trainee chief engineer hired directly by the head office — an experienced tanker chief retraining onto LNG. After two contracts the office told him the most he could expect was a second engineer's position, and he left. From my captain's chair he was indeed not ready for this fleet, and the fact that the company said so to one of its own, after real money spent on his training, told me more about the promotion standard here than any brochure.
Recruitment went through an agency and direct contact with the crew department. The safety management system is the heaviest I have seen — photo reports for deck work, meetings, drills and planned maintenance, procedures on top of procedures; during a six-week ocean passage the paper never stopped. Internet is 2 GB a month free, then 20 USD per gigabyte without limits; newer vessels are getting Starlink at the same tariffs. Officers come from many countries; most senior ranks are held by officers of one nationality and management leans their way. Promotion is unpredictable in both directions — third engineers can sit five years or jump a rank in eighteen months. There are Ukrainians at every level.