Joiners and leavers
For offshore supply vessels and every other vessel calling Pointe-Noire, 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 Pointe-Noire through Agostinho Neto International Airport, close to the port, and the movement is routine when the file is right. 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.
Pointe-Noire is the Atlantic coast of the Republic of the Congo, the country's only deep-water port and its oil capital, and offshore supply vessels, crew boats and anchor handlers make up much of the traffic, and their crew and spares needs run on a different clock from cargo ships; 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.
Agostinho Neto International Airport is the door for crew at Pointe-Noire. The desk's driver waits at arrivals with the vessel's name, walks the joiners through immigration on the pre-notification already filed, and brings them to the port gate or the launch. For leavers, the same driver collects them at the gangway and sees them through immigration and check-in.
Nobody buys a ticket until the vessel's schedule is firm; the desk holds options and rebooks when the ETA moves, which it usually does.
Every nationality on the crew list is checked against the current rules at Pointe-Noire 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.
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.
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.
The vessels that change crew at Pointe-Noire are offshore supply vessels, container ships, general cargo ships, bulk carriers and tankers, calling for oil industry cargo and the port's other trades, or passing on the routes that make Pointe-Noire a convenient stop. Each type has its own rotation: cargo ships change a few officers and ratings per call, fishing and offshore vessels rotate crews in numbers, cruise ships rotate hotel staff on every call.
Brazzaville by rail and road, with transit cargo for the Central African Republic and northern DR Congo, which shapes how far the port is from the airport in practice and how much road time the plan must allow.
Yes. The airport is Agostinho Neto International Airport, close to the port, and the port accepts crew movements at berth and at anchorage.
The owner or manager who instructs the desk; costs are itemised with receipts in a separate crew account or in the DA, and each movement is reported promptly.
Yes. Owners place crew movements with the desk as protecting agent while the charterer's agent handles the cargo.
Yes. Kenyan officers and ratings with verified documents are placed through the Mombasa crewing desk and delivered to the joining port.
One instruction, one account, one contact for the master and one for the principal.
The port call, the crew desk and the guides, one instruction line.
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Maingate Shipping Limited · Express Building, Moi Avenue, Mombasa, Kenya · ops@maingateshipping.com · +254 784 622 091