What you need to perform it
Primary qualification
- Spanish higher vocational diploma in Transport and Logistics (RD 1572/2011), a degree in logistics/supply chain or equivalent training, with a career in hospitality or food warehousing.
- Usual route: internal promotion from Storekeeper and Assistant Provision Master, mastering the cruise line's inventory system (industry practice, as a guide).
Basic STCW
- STCW A-VI/1 Basic Safety Training.
- STCW A-V/2 crowd management per muster list.
- Valid seafarer medical certificate per flag.
Specific courses
- HACCP applied to food receiving and storage (Regulation (EC) 852/2004).
- USPH/VSP and EU SHIPSAN standards for food stores: temperatures, FIFO, labelling, off-floor storage and product protection (stores score in the ship's inspection — as a guide).
- Forklift and pallet-truck operation (training per Spanish RD 1215/1997 and UNE 58451 reference — as a guide).
- Storage and segregation of hotel chemicals: safety data sheets (SDS) and CLP labelling.
- Inventory and provisioning ERP systems (SAP MM, Oracle, MXP or others depending on the line).
Indicative experience
As a guide: 5+ years in food or hotel logistics, with 2-3 shipboard contracts as storekeeper or assistant before the post. On a large cruise ship the role manages thousands of active items and provisioning of hundreds of tonnes per turnaround. Each line sets its own minimums.
Observations
Typical route: Storekeeper → Assistant Provision Master → Provision Master → shipboard F&B management or shoreside corporate supply chain. USPH/VSP inspects food stores (temperatures, FIFO, labelling, product protection) and deficiencies subtract from the ship's score (as a guide). Coordination with the port agent, suppliers and customs decides whether the ship sails complete: the port window does not wait. This is not deck crew: the 'cargo operation' is hotel logistics, but with a ship's discipline.
What this role does
A cruise ship cannot improvise provisioning. This role ensures that tons of supplies are received, recorded, preserved and issued without losing control. A typical turnaround loads in a few hours what a shoreside hotel consumes in weeks: hundreds of pallets within a closed port window, an audited cold chain and customs in between. If the ship sails short, the error drags on for the whole itinerary.
Typical watches
- Logistics schedule with heavy peaks during port calls
Key responsibilities
- Control inventories, receiving, storage and traceability of supplies.
- Supervise large-scale loading of food, beverages and chemicals in each port.
- Plan orders by itinerary and safeguard the cold chain with temperature logs for cold rooms and freezers.
- Coordinate with the port agent and suppliers the port-call reception and the customs documentation of provisions.
- Control shrinkage, expiry dates and FIFO rotation, and report inventory cost to hotel management.
Operational scope
- Dry stores, cold rooms and freezers
- Provision reception area and port logistics
- The ship's inventory management system
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.