Splash247: Germany opens bridge to non-EU captains

Published by Splash247

Germany has relaxed one of the more restrictive crewing requirements among major European maritime nations, allowing non-EU nationals to serve as masters and senior officers aboard German-flagged ships.

An amendment to the country’s Safe Manning Ordinance now gives owners the option to use masters and officers from outside the EU and European Economic Area, provided certain conditions are met.

Previously, German-flagged ships generally required an EU/EEA national as master, while vessels of 8,000 gt and above also required an EU/EEA ship officer.

The change is explicitly aimed at tackling officer shortages while making the German flag more competitive.

Owners using a non-EU master or officer holding a non-EU certificate must demonstrate that no suitable EU candidate is available and that they cannot promote internally. They must also create two maritime training positions for every EU/EEA officer replaced.

Approval is granted to the shipping company rather than individual ships, initially for six months and extendable to five years once the required training positions have been established.

Third-country officers already holding an EU certificate of competency face a simpler route, requiring a German endorsement and completion of a German maritime law course.

The German flag currently covers around 395 merchant ships of 100 gt and above, while Germany’s wider merchant fleet contains more than 1,400 vessels.

Germany’s shipping association has previously highlighted the scale of flagging-out among domestic owners. The new rules therefore address two problems at once: access to an increasingly international officer pool and the long-running struggle to persuade German owners to keep ships under their national flag.