Travel To and From Ships

The journey to and from a ship is a distinct professional experience that most shore-based workers never have to navigate. You may be flying at 24 hours notice to a port you have never been to, carrying a full kit bag, a discharge book, and medical certificates, connecting through an airport where your flag state visa complicates transit. Or you may be trying to get home from a vessel delayed by bad weather with a connecting flight that has already left. This guide covers the practical realities that no pre-joining brief quite prepares you for.

Who Pays for Travel

Under MLC 2006 Regulation 2.5, employers are required to cover the cost of repatriation for seafarers at the end of their contract, in cases of contract termination by the company, and following certain medical events. The obligation to pay joining travel costs varies by contract and company. In practice:

• Deep-sea operators: Usually pay all joining and repatriation travel, accommodation during transit, and a daily subsistence allowance
• Short-sea and ferry operators: Often pay travel for crew joining away from their home port, but may not for vessels in home port
• Superyacht operators: Generally cover joining flights, but policies on last-minute changes, missed connections, and stopovers vary significantly

Get your travel entitlement in writing before you travel — not just a verbal commitment. Your contract should specify what is covered and what the reimbursement procedure is.

The Pre-Joining Brief and What to Confirm

Before departing for any vessel, always confirm:

• Port agent contact details — who picks you up, where they will meet you, and what their number is
• Vessel ETA/ETD at the joining port — ships move; confirm 24 hours before departure
• Visa requirements — for your nationality, at both transit airports and the destination port country
• What documentation to carry — CoC, STCW certificates, ENG1/FV2, passport, seafarer's identity document (SID) if applicable, pre-joining medical form
• Kit bag restrictions — some routes have checked baggage allowance problems; confirm baggage allowance with the company travel team

Transit Visas — Where Things Go Wrong

One of the most common pre-joining crises is a seafarer being detained or denied boarding at a transit airport due to visa requirements they were not briefed on. The C1/D crew visa for the United States, ETIAS for Europe (launching 2025), and UK transit visa requirements all catch seafarers out regularly.

Key principles:

• Check visa requirements for your nationality at every country you will transit through, not just your final destination
• The UK Visas & Immigration checker and equivalent services for other destination countries will give you the definitive answer
• Maintain valid documents — an expired seafarer's identity document (SID) or CDC may complicate entry at certain ports more than an expired tourist document
• Your company's crewing department or port agent should handle visa applications for non-standard joinings; if they do not, flag it immediately rather than assuming it will be fine