Joining a ship with a missing or expired document can delay your sign-on, cost you the contract, or leave you stuck in a foreign port. Port state control inspectors, manning agents and the ship's master all check paperwork — and "it's being renewed" is not an answer that gets you on board. Run through this checklist before every joining: originals in hand, copies stored separately, and every expiry date verified.
The documents
- Passport — your primary travel document; check it is valid well beyond the end of your contract, since many countries require months of remaining validity.
- CDC / Seaman's Book — your seafarer's identity and service record document; it proves who you are at sea and carries your official sea-service entries.
- Certificate of Competency (CoC) — your licence for the rank you are joining in; it must be valid and appropriate to the vessel.
- Certificates of Proficiency (CoP) — endorsements for specific duties such as tanker operations or passenger-ship service, as required by your assignment.
- STCW safety certificates — Basic Safety Training and any advanced modules (fire fighting, survival craft, medical first aid) your rank requires; these expire and need refreshing.
- Medical fitness certificate — proof you are medically fit for sea service, issued by an approved doctor; joining without a valid one is a non-starter.
- Visas — crew visas for the countries on your itinerary (for example, where required for shore leave or transit); confirm which ones your company arranges and which are yours to obtain.
- Seafarer's Employment Agreement (SEA) — your signed contract covering wages, hours, repatriation and conditions; read it before you sign, and keep your copy with you.
Before you leave home
Do the check the moment a contract is offered, not the week before joining. Renewing a certificate or medical from abroad — or mid-rotation — is far harder and more expensive than doing it at home. Confirm with your manning agent which documents the company verifies in advance and which you must present at the gangway; requirements vary by flag state and trade.
Carry the originals in a waterproof document holder on your person while travelling, not in checked luggage. Keep scanned or photographed copies somewhere separate — a second bag, or with a trusted person ashore — so a lost folder does not become a lost contract.
Make one list of every document and its expiry date, and check it at the start of every leave period. Certificates have a habit of expiring mid-contract, exactly when renewal is hardest.
Digital copies are your safety net
Paper gets wet, torn and lost at sea. The day you receive any document — a new CoC, a refreshed STCW certificate, a stamped CDC page — photograph or scan it and store the copy apart from the original. If an inspector, agent or company office ever asks for proof in a hurry, you will have it in seconds. The same habit protects your sea-service record: a personal log of sign-on dates, vessels and ranks, kept separately from official books, is what saves you when a discharge book goes missing years later.
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