What you need to perform it
Primary qualification
- No STCW certificate of competency required: support-level catering personnel. Under the Spanish flag, signing on requires the Seaman's Book (Libreta de Inscripción Marítima), the ISM pre-embarkation medical (RD 1696/2007) and Basic Safety Training.
- MLC 2006 framing, Regulation 3.2/Standard A3.2: catering staff who handle food must be trained or instructed for their duties; not to be confused with the ship's cook certificate, required of the cook with a manning of 10 or more.
- Hospitality training an asset: professional certificate in restaurant-bar service (Spanish HOTR family — code as a guide) or equivalent shore experience.
Basic STCW
- Full STCW A-VI/1 (Basic Safety Training) with five-yearly refresher.
- Maritime security training: A-VI/6-1 awareness and, if assigned security duties, A-VI/6-2.
- Valid medical fitness (STCW I/9; in Spain, the ISM medical).
Specific courses
- Food handler and food hygiene per Regulation (EC) 852/2004.
- HACCP applied to ship galleys: cold chain, allergens (Regulation (EU) 1169/2011) and records.
- Ship and safety familiarisation (SOLAS/ISM) on joining.
- STCW V/2 passenger ship training (crowd management) if serving on ships carrying more than 12 passengers.
- MARPOL Annex V waste segregation and basic handling of cleaning chemicals (safety data sheets).
Indicative experience
Entry position: no mandatory minimum experience. As a guide: 1-2 years of shore hospitality ease entry; after 2-3 tours, adding cooking trade skills, the route opens to cook and then chief cook.
Observations
Catering is a department in its own right on merchant ships: the messman/steward reports to the chief cook, not to deck. Typical dataset progression: messman → ship's cook (MLC 2006 Regulation 3.2 with manning of 10 or more) → chief cook; alternatively, moving to cruise hotel service (waiters, housekeeping), where the V/2 crowd and crisis modules are added. In an emergency this rating has muster-list duties like the rest of the crew — catering is usually assigned to muster-station support and survival provisions.
What this role does
It is the entry rung of the merchant catering department and, for many, the first door to going to sea without a prior nautical qualification. The work sustains shipboard morale: clean messes, meals served on time and well-kept accommodation weigh more in the daily life of a ship than almost any other factor. Done well, the job is the natural antechamber to the ship's cook trade.
Typical watches
- Split shift around meal services (breakfast, lunch, dinner); no navigational watches
Key responsibilities
- Set up, serve and clear the officers' and crew messes at each service.
- Support the cook in preparation, pantry and dishwashing, and in stowing the provisions stores.
- Clean and maintain officers' cabins, accommodation and common areas as assigned.
- Apply the ship's food hygiene plan (HACCP): temperatures, cleaning and disinfection, pest control.
- Segregate catering waste per MARPOL Annex V and the garbage management plan.
Operational scope
- Dining service
- Kitchen support
- Accommodation hygiene
Profile reviewed by HydroAbyss (2026). Cited rules and timeframes are indicative: the final requirement is set by the flag State, the Administration and each company.