Built from inside the wheelhouse
Crew2Sea was not invented in a boardroom. It started with an operator who kept losing days to a process that should take hours, and decided the sector deserved better.
The story
Sailed the ships, made the calls, felt the waste
Crew2Sea's founder knows the maritime sector from both sides. Years at sea, from anchor handling on the Westerschelde to vessel operations worldwide. Then ashore in maritime operations, responsible for a sailing fleet.
One thing became clearer every year: finding good crew takes far too much time. Calling several agencies, waiting for stacks of CVs, then finding out the best candidate is no longer available. And once you finally have the right people, the process often starts all over again.
We did not come up with this problem behind a desk. We tested it in practice, through structured conversations with operators and crewing agencies across the sector, from international survey companies to family-run coaster operators.
The same challenges came back every time. Good crew is worth gold, but hard to hire again. Certificate handling is still largely manual. A more efficient workflow gives crewing agencies room again for what they are really good at: building and keeping strong relationships with their crew and their clients.
That is how Crew2Sea started: a platform that makes finding, managing and rehiring maritime crew smarter and more efficient.
Crew2Sea is developed together with Agensea, our technical partner. Agensea brings the software know-how and the speed to make ideas actually work, Crew2Sea the deep maritime expertise. Two worlds with one goal: less time lost on searching and admin, and more room for the people who keep the maritime sector running.
Validated in the field
Eight structured interviews with operators and agencies confirmed the problem, the willingness to pay and the must-have features.
Start in the delta, scale worldwide
First traction in the Dutch maritime cluster, where operators, agencies and schools know each other. The architecture is ready for every region that follows.
A network that opens doors
Direct lines to leading operators and the largest crewing agencies in the region, built over years of working in the sector.
Compliance
The boring parts, done properly
MLC 2006
Placement free of charge for the seafarer, no blacklisting mechanisms, full alignment with Regulation 1.4.
STCW 1978/2010
Certificate validation against rank, tonnage and engine power, with expiry signals 30 days ahead.
GDPR
Privacy by design: separated portals, role-based access, minimum data sets, processing agreements per agency.
Security
Encrypted document storage, audit trail on every placement action.
Crew2Sea is an intermediary platform. The agency remains the formal employer of the seafarer, and platform use never releases an operator from its own duty of care.