Crew logistics
For bulk carriers and every other vessel calling Alexandria, the crew change is a movement Maingate Shipping plans end to end: immigration, airport, transfer, launch, hotel and the prompt report. Partner agent on the ground, Mombasa desk in charge.
For vessels calling Alexandria, the crew change is planned before the cargo is: flights are held until the ETA is firm, immigration is pre-notified, and the joining crew are met at Borg El Arab Airport and taken to the gangway or the launch. Off-port-limits changes for vessels in transit are done the same way, without the vessel entering the port.
The port's geography matters: the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, with the main port and the adjacent El Dekheila port. So does the fact that Egypt's grain imports make Alexandria one of the busiest bulk grain destinations in the world, and berth allocation between the two ports is set by the port authority.
Every movement is confirmed in writing before the seafarer travels and reported promptly it happens.
The airport for Alexandria is Borg El Arab Airport, with most international connections through Cairo. Joining crew are met on arrival, taken through immigration on the agent's pre-notification, and driven to the port or the launch pier. Leaving crew are collected from the gangway, taken through immigration with their sign-off documents and checked in for their flight.
Flights are held until the ETA is firm and rebooked without fuss when the vessel slips; a crew change fixed to an optimistic ETA is the commonest way a movement fails.
The file that makes a crew change at Alexandria work: passports valid for the period immigration requires, seaman's books or seafarer identity documents, the vessel's crew list with the joiners and leavers marked, the letter of guarantee from the agent, and the visa position for each nationality confirmed with immigration for this movement, not assumed from the last one.
The desk files the notification before the flight lands so that the seafarer is expected at the desk rather than explained at it.
At berth the movement is a walk from the gate to the gangway. At the anchorage, a licensed launch is booked for daylight and acceptable weather, and the pilot ladder and the vessel's own arrangements are confirmed with the master beforehand. Where a flight lands after the last launch, a hotel near the port is booked and the transfer runs at first light.
Off-port-limits crew changes for vessels in transit are done outside the port, with the vessel slowing to take the launch alongside and resuming passage within a couple of hours.
A seafarer landed sick at Alexandria is taken to hospital by the desk's representative, admitted against the owner's or the club's guarantee, and reported on daily until discharged or repatriated with a fit-to-fly certificate and, where required, a medical escort. The replacement is arranged from the Kenyan pool while the case runs.
Times, names and costs go to the owner promptly; receipts follow with the account.
Alexandria sees bulk carriers, container ships, general cargo ships and tankers. The desk plans a two-person officer swap on a bulk carrier and a twenty-person rotation on a purse seiner with the same file discipline, scaled to the numbers: more vehicles, more hotel rooms, a larger launch, and immigration warned of the size of the movement.
The port's working areas are the container terminals, the grain berths and silos, the general cargo quays and the bulk terminals at El Dekheila, and the gate the crew use depends on the berth the vessel is given.
The crew list marked with joiners and leavers, valid passports, seaman's books or seafarer identity documents, the agent's letter of guarantee and, for some nationalities, a visa obtained in advance or pre-notified for arrival.
Yes, by launch in daylight when the sea state allows.
Through Borg El Arab Airport, with most international connections through Cairo, with the desk meeting joiners on arrival and seeing leavers through immigration and check-in.
The desk books a hotel near the port, keeps the crew informed, and moves them to the vessel as soon as she is alongside or at anchor.
Nominate Maingate Shipping and the answer comes from Mombasa with a proforma DA attached.
Desks that usually follow a Alexandria crew change.
Also on maingateshipping.com: Ship agency at Mombasa · Ship agency and charter brokers · Ship brokerage · About Maingate · Contact
Maingate Shipping Limited · Express Building, Moi Avenue, Mombasa, Kenya · ops@maingateshipping.com · +254 784 622 091