High crew standards are a top priority for any shipping company in view of the safety and wellbeing of the crew. Shipowners are responsible for manning issues and are given plenty of leeway in the Netherlands to do this efficiently and flexibly, as long as national and international standards regarding crew safety, training and working conditions are being followed.
In order to ensure safe and reliable working conditions on board, there are certain requirements to be met with respect to seafarers and the crew in general. The following documents are needed:
- A Minimum Safe Manning certificate. In order to obtain this certificate an acceptable Safe Manning Proposal must be submitted by the shipowner to NSI who will carry out the certification process.
- For each seafarer, a number of personal documents must be obtained at Kiwa (see Seafarer Documents).
Seagoing Vessels Crew Act
The new Seagoing Vessels Crew Act (Wet bemanning zeeschepen) came into force on July 1, 2025 and replaces the old Seafarers Act. The new act entails several important changes and improvements. One of the improvements for instance beholds an experimentation provision.
The new regulations provide more flexibility for temporary deviations from the standard regulations in the context of demonstrable technological innovation.
This primarily concerns the possibility of deviating from a valid safe manning certificate and manning in accordance with that certificate for seagoing vessels in merchant shipping, hydraulic engineering, and fishing.
Furthermore, there is now room to experiment with the professional requirements of seafarers working on board a specific seagoing vessel for a limited period. This could involve, for example, alternative or experimental navigation qualifications.
The publication of the act on the website of the NSI explains the most important changes. At the moment this is only in Dutch, an English version will be available in the short term.
For more information please visit the official website of the Netherlands Regulatory Framework (NeRF) here.