Technological development on board ships creates new challenges for the crew. Developing trends on board ships (e.g. extending decision-making capabilities in various control units, increased number of different measuring sensors, extensive redundancy of critical systems on board, etc.) change the way processes on them are carried out. Consequently, the crew has to master new competences or upgrade the already existing ones. Therefore, some competences will probably become obsolete. In this paper, the authors draw attention to MET of deck officers. The main goal of the research that lasted for two years was to determine the presence of different types of competences in MET of deck officers. The process of gaining competences prescribed by IMO Model Courses 7.01 and 7.03, study programmes of Croatian higher MET institutions, non- formal education programmes i.e. short courses on board LNG carriers and cruise ships were analysed in the paper. Research methods used in the paper were interview, questionnaire and document analysis. Interview and questionnaire were used for gathering data on short courses for LNG carriers and cruise ships. Document analysis was used when classifying competences gained through MET programmes based on only IMO Model Courses and the programmes that go beyond IMO Model Courses i.e. short courses on board LNG carriers and cruise ships. Taking into consideration the results of the research, the authors have suggested the so-called process approach to interrelate the processes on board ships with required competences.