Georgia Moves to Let Ships With Ten or More Crew Sail a Month Without a Qualified Cook
The exemption would last until the next port of call or one month, whichever comes first
Georgia is preparing to allow commercial ships whose safe manning documents require at least 10 seafarers to operate for up to one month without a qualified cook, under a legislative package submitted to the Georgian parliament.
The country's Maritime Transport Agency would be able to grant the exemption in cases of exceptional necessity, allowing a person without the required ship's cook qualification to serve on board. The dispensation would remain valid until the vessel reaches its next port, or for no more than one month, whichever comes first.
Anyone serving as cook under the exemption would first have to receive training or instruction in personal hygiene, food preparation and the handling and storage of food on board. That condition is what distinguishes a dispensation from an absence of any standard at all.
Georgia's existing Law on Seafarers' Labour requires ships with a safe manning document providing for 10 or more seafarers to carry a qualified cook. Ships with a prescribed manning level below 10 are not subject to that requirement, although personnel involved in catering still have to receive relevant food and hygiene training.
The proposed waiver follows the framework of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, which allows a competent maritime authority, in cases of exceptional necessity, to permit a person without full cook qualifications to serve until the next convenient port of call or for up to one month, subject to appropriate food handling and hygiene instruction. Georgia ratified the convention on 14 February 2024, and it entered into force for the country on 14 February 2025.
The change therefore closes a gap rather than opening one. Georgian law was stricter than the convention it had just ratified, leaving no mechanism for a master to replace a cook who fell ill or left the ship mid-voyage without breaching the manning document.
The wider legislative changes are also intended to expand the powers of the Maritime Transport Agency and to introduce additional labour and social protection safeguards for seafarers. The agency operates under Georgia's Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, and its responsibilities include maritime regulation, flag state oversight, seafarer training and certification, maritime safety, vessel traffic monitoring, marine pollution prevention and search and rescue.
