Commercial seagoing vessels

National vessels

The following specific requirements apply to ships operating within the area boundaries off the coast of Bonaire, St. Eustatius or Saba, as defined in Article 41b of the Marine Vessels Safety Regulations (Regeling Veiligheid Zeeschepen):

• The harbourmaster must have issued a registration card on behalf of the Public Entity.
• The harbourmaster must have issued a commercial vessel licence on behalf of the Public Entity.
• The harbourmaster must have issued a national safety certificate on behalf of the head of the Shipping Inspectorate. The requirements for obtaining this certificate are described in Annex 6 of the Marine Vessels Safety Regulations. The following checklists can be used to help establish whether the requirements have been fulfilled.
  • Part 1: Unified Interpretation equipment
  • Part 2: Unified Interpretation hull
• As from the 1^st of  January 2025, captains must have a certificate of competency, in other words at least a Boatmaster Grade 3 certificate of competency as described in Article 10.11 of the Marine Vessels Safety Regulations.

Exceptions

Rental without crews: If you rent your vessel on its own, without a crew, to someone who is going to use the vessel for recreational purposes, the vessel will not be regarded as being used as a commercial seagoing vessel. In that case the vessel can be registered as a pleasure craft because the requirements that apply to commercial shipping are not applicable to such vessels.

NB: Any people who pay to travel on the vessel will, however, be regarded as passengers (rather than guests) and the vessel will then be regarded as being used for commercial purposes. In that case the vessel must be registered as a commercial vessel and it will indeed be subject to the requirements referred to here.

International vessels

Ships that travel to foreign ports must be certified for international travel. Ships that operate in the Caribbean trading area must at least be certified in accordance with the Code of Safety for Small Commercial Vessels (SCV Code) or the Code of Safety for Caribbean Cargo Ships (CCSS Code). Ships that operate worldwide must meet the requirements described on the website of the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate.

Inspections of foreign seagoing vessels (Port State Control, PSC)

The ILT carries out inspections on seagoing vessels sailing under a foreign flag in the ports and at the moorings in the Caribbean Netherlands. The Caribbean Netherlands is a signatory of the Caribbean MoU on Port State Control which is intended to keep substandard vessels out of the region.

All the participating countries conduct PSC inspections in the same way, thereby promoting a level playing field within the region. The inspectors check whether vessels meet the requirements in the field of safety, the environment and working conditions, as agreed in the treaties of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).