Crew logistics
Maingate Shipping arranges crew changes at Nacala for owners, managers and crewing agencies: immigration formalities, airport meet and transfer through Nacala Airport, with connections through Nampula and Maputo, launches where the vessel lies at anchor, and hotels when flights and vessels do not line up. Our partner agent at the port attends the movement under Maingate's instruction; the Mombasa desk plans and reports.
For vessels calling Nacala, 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 Nacala Airport and taken to the gangway or the launch. Where the vessel will not be entering the port, the desk advises whether the change is better made here or at the next port on the route.
The port's geography matters: a deep natural bay on Mozambique's northern coast that takes the deepest vessels on the coast without dredging. So does the fact that the coal terminal and the commercial port sit on opposite sides of the bay with separate procedures, and the town's services are limited compared with Maputo.
Every movement is confirmed in writing before the seafarer travels and reported promptly it happens.
Movements at Nacala run through Nacala Airport, with connections through Nampula and Maputo. Joiners are met at the aircraft door where the airport allows it and at arrivals where it does not, and are through immigration and on the road without delay when the file was filed in advance. Leavers go the other way with their sign-off papers in hand.
Flight bookings track the vessel, not the other way round: options are held and changed as the ETA firms up, and the owner is told the cost of each change.
The file that makes a crew change at Nacala 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.
Where the vessel is not entering port, the desk advises whether an off-port-limits change is workable at Nacala or better made at the next port on the route.
Sick or injured crew are taken to hospital with an agent's representative, the owner and the P&I club are informed promptly, and repatriation with a medical escort is arranged when the doctor allows travel. Replacement seafarers are arranged in parallel from Kenya through our crewing desk so that the vessel does not sail short.
Every movement is reported to the owner with the times, the names and the costs, and the receipts follow in the DA.
Nacala sees capesize and panamax 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 and general cargo port at Nacala, and the coal export terminal at Nacala-a-Velha across the bay, and the gate the crew use depends on the berth the vessel is given.
A few working days is comfortable for most nationalities once the ETA is firm; longer where a visa must be obtained in advance. The desk confirms the requirement when the crew list is received.
Case by case; the desk confirms with the port and the launch operator for each movement.
Nacala Airport, with connections through Nampula and Maputo.
Yes. Kenyan officers and ratings are placed through our crewing desk in Mombasa with verified documents, and delivered to the vessel at the port of joining.
Nominate Maingate Shipping and the answer comes from Mombasa with a proforma DA attached.
Crew work sits with port agency and crew management on the same desk.
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Maingate Shipping Limited · Express Building, Moi Avenue, Mombasa, Kenya · ops@maingateshipping.com · +254 784 622 091