Joiners and leavers
For fishing vessels and every other vessel calling Lüderitz, 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.
Seafarers join and leave at Lüderitz through Lüderitz Airport for light aircraft, with international connections through Windhoek, and the movement is workable when it is planned ahead. Maingate Shipping handles the immigration formalities, the airport, the transfer to the gangway and the hotel if the timings do not meet, and reports every movement to the owner with times and costs.
Lüderitz is a rocky harbour on Namibia's southern coast, the country's second port, and strong winds and a small harbour mean vessels are worked one at a time and berthing is timed to the weather; the crew plan is built with that in mind, so that a launch is not booked into a swell or a flight into a berth window that will not hold.
Crewing agencies, technical managers and owners under charter all place crew movements here; the desk acts for whoever instructs it and keeps that party's account separate.
The airport for Lüderitz is Lüderitz Airport for light aircraft, with international connections through Windhoek. 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.
Every nationality on the crew list is checked against the current rules at Lüderitz before a ticket is bought: who gets a visa on arrival, who needs one in advance, who transits on the agent's letter of guarantee alone. The crew list, passports and seaman's books are sent to immigration with the letter of guarantee ahead of the movement.
Shore passes are arranged for crew going ashore, and the boarding officer carries the port passes the movement needs.
The last mile at Lüderitz is the gangway or the launch. Alongside, the boarding officer walks the crew through the gate. At anchor, the launch goes out in daylight with the joiners and comes back with the leavers, and the desk confirms the ladder, the lee side and the timing with the master before it sails.
Where the vessel is not entering port, the desk advises whether an off-port-limits change is workable at Lüderitz or better made at the next port on the route. Hotels near the port are used when flights land after the last launch.
Medical cases at Lüderitz follow one rule: the seafarer sees a doctor first and the paperwork follows. Hospital, guarantee, daily reports to owner and club, fit-to-fly certificate, escort and flight home are the desk's work; the vessel's schedule is kept by arranging a replacement in parallel.
The owner receives a prompt report of each movement, and the DA carries the receipts.
Lüderitz sees fishing vessels, marine mining support vessels, general cargo ships and offshore supply vessels. 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 commercial quay, the fishing harbour that serves the hake and rock lobster fleets, and the marine diamond mining support berths, 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.
The desk confirms with the port and the launch operator; where it is not workable the change is planned for the berth or the next port.
Through Lüderitz Airport for light aircraft, with international connections through Windhoek, 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 Lüderitz crew change.
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Maingate Shipping Limited · Express Building, Moi Avenue, Mombasa, Kenya · ops@maingateshipping.com · +254 784 622 091