Crew supply
Owners looking beyond the traditional crew supply countries find in Kenya an English-speaking, well-trained pool of seafarers at wage scales that make sense for bulk, tanker, offshore and fishing tonnage. Kenyan ratings have sailed on international fleets for decades; Kenyan officers are now graduating in numbers from the country's maritime academies.
Maingate Shipping places these seafarers from Mombasa, the country's maritime capital. Because we are also port agents, we see how a crew performs at the gangway, in the hold and on the bridge, and that experience goes into the short lists we send.
Kenya trains seafarers under STCW at Bandari Maritime Academy in Mombasa and through university maritime programmes, with the Kenya Maritime Authority issuing certificates of competency and proficiency. Basic safety, advanced fire fighting, survival craft, medical first aid, security awareness and tanker familiarisation courses are available locally, which keeps refresher training close to home.
Bulk carriers and tankers on the Indian Ocean and Gulf trades, cruise ships in the Mediterranean and Caribbean, purse seiners and longliners in the western Indian Ocean, offshore supply vessels off East and West Africa, and tugs and workboats in the Gulf ports. Many have long service with a single owner.
English is the working language of Kenyan schooling and seafaring, Mombasa has daily international flights, visas for most joining ports are obtainable in Nairobi, and the seafarers' home base is on the route of the vessels that trade East Africa, so joining and leaving can be timed to a Mombasa call.
Maingate Shipping Limited is a ship agency, crew management and ship brokerage company based at Express Building on Moi Avenue in Mombasa, Kenya, serving vessels at Kenyan ports since 2020 and coordinating port calls across Africa through its agency line. The company attends bulk carriers, tankers, container ships, car carriers, cruise ships, fishing, offshore and naval vessels at Mombasa and Lamu, places Kenyan seafarers with owners worldwide, and fixes dry bulk, tanker and project tonnage for East African cargoes.
One instruction to the desk covers the port call, the crew, the fuel and the account, and the same office answers the master and the principal at any hour.
It depends on the port. Seafarer visas or transit arrangements for the Gulf, Europe, Asia and the Americas are obtained through the relevant embassies in Nairobi, and the desk handles the application with the owner's letter of employment.
Yes. Video interviews are arranged from our Mombasa office and, where the owner's technical superintendent is in Kenya, in person.
Senior engineers and masters with the largest tonnage are always in demand, so owners who want them plan ahead; junior officers, cadets and ratings are readily available.
Receipts behind every line, a record behind every stoppage, a desk behind every call.
Related desks on the same instruction line.
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Maingate Shipping Limited · Express Building, Moi Avenue, Mombasa, Kenya · ops@maingateshipping.com · +254 784 622 091