Originally The Lloyd’s Officer cadet Scholarship and re-named in 2002, the Maritime London Officer Cadet Scholarship (MLOCS) is a charity which provides funds to enable young people to undertake the three to four year training required to become a Merchant Navy deck, engine or electro-technical officer (ETO).
MLOCS operates under the aegis of Maritime London which provides administrative support to the independent MLOCS Trustee Board comprising a maximum of 12 volunteers with a working background in the maritime services sector.
Email us if you would like to SPONSOR A CADET or MAKE A DONATION, specifying the donation amount and providing your name and company name. We will then send you a card payment link. Alternatively, please donate on the MLOCS Justgiving page using this link.
The charity currently has 15 cadets at various stages of training.
Cadet recruitment and training for MLOCS is carried out by Just Be Maritime (JBM), a highly respected Officer Cadet management company, with the cadet training programme being divided between seagoing appointments aboard a variety of commercial vessels for gaining practical experience, and academic and safety training phases at one of the following UK nautical colleges:
Warsash Maritime School (Southampton)
Additional information is readily available on the JBM website at www.justbemaritime.com, with two key sections as follows:
- ‘Maritime Careers’ – an overview of industry sectors and career options, with comprehensive information on what an Officer Cadetship entails (e.g. entry requirements, sponsorship, lifestyle etc).
- ‘Officer Cadetships’ – detailed information on training programmes for Deck, Marine Engineer and METO Cadets, along with career progression to either higher ranks or roles ashore.
In 1992 a small group of Lloyd’s underwriters established the Lloyd’s of London Officer Cadet Scholarship as a registered charity. Its objective was to support the training of UK-based merchant navy officers in order to:
- Recognise and promote the improvement of standards of expertise on merchant vessels
- Provide a supply of UK seafarers who might particularly look to the City of London for careers when coming ashore
The scheme was renamed the Maritime London Officer Cadet Scholarship in 2002 to reflect the contribution to the funding of Scholarships made by the wider maritime services industry in the City.
The Scholarships enable Cadets to study at college and at sea to qualify as deck, engine or electro-technical officers. MLOCS seeks to identify and engage supporting donors (Sponsors) – to cover each cadet’s training costs – and general donors whose contributions help to maintain a small contingency reserve. Training courses begin in either January /April or September of each year and last for 3 to 4 years.
Sponsors can be involved in the selection process and each Cadet liaises with their Sponsor throughout their training. That involvement and mentoring of a Cadet can also provide the Sponsor with opportunities for in-house training for their staff and other corporate initiatives as well as identifying future employment possibilities.
The funding during training is augmented by Government support under the SmarT scheme. This funding enables the Cadet to pay the costs of training and also provides a subsistence allowance. Cadet recruitment and training is supervised by the Trustees and carried out on their behalf by Just Be Maritime Ltd (JBM). All Trustees are volunteers and the overheads of the charity are low.
MLOCS Patrons and Trustees 2026
Registered Charity No. 1013834
Apply to the scheme
If you are aged 16 or over, and are a UK citizen or an EU national permanently resident in the UK and interested in benefitting from this scheme click the following link to apply.
