Yacht Manager’s Ship’s Cook Compliance Checklist

This checklist helps you organise that conversation. It does not create one universal rule for every yacht or every chef. The applicable test depends on the flag, commercial status, operating profile and the person responsible for food and catering for the crew.

1. Start with the vessel, not the job title

Before checking an individual cook’s documents, record the operational facts that determine which rules may apply:

1. Flag and current guidance. Identify the flag administration and use its current requirements for the vessel and role.
2. Commercial status. Check whether the yacht is commercially operated or private, and whether the flag’s MLC rules apply to the vessel.
3. Crew number and voyage pattern. Record the ordinary number of seafarers, the usual operating area and relevant safe-manning documentation.
4. Crew-catering responsibility. Identify who is actually responsible for food preparation and catering for crew — not only who prepares food for owners or guests.

Those facts are more reliable than a job title alone. A head chef, sole chef, sous chef, crew cook or guest-facing chef may have different responsibilities on different yachts.

2. Separate the qualified Ship’s Cook role from other food-handling duties

MLC 2006 requires seafarers employed as Ship’s Cooks with responsibility for food preparation to be trained and qualified. It also requires catering staff to be properly trained or instructed for their own positions. [1]

That distinction matters in a yacht crew file. Food-hygiene training, HACCP training, company induction and a Ship’s Cook qualification can all be useful, but they are not automatically interchangeable. Keep the records separate and match each one to the actual role.

A practical file review should distinguish:

• the designated person responsible for crew food and catering;
• other crew who process food or work in the galley;
• food-hygiene or food-safety training held by those crew; and
• the official Ship’s Cook certificate or other flag-accepted qualification, where the designated role requires one.

3. Use flag-specific thresholds correctly

Do not turn one flag’s example into a worldwide yacht rule.

UK MCA example

For UK ships in scope, the MCA says a qualified Ship’s Cook is required unless the ship operates only within 60 miles of a safe haven without operating to, from or calling at a port outside the United Kingdom, or ordinarily operates with fewer than ten seafarers. The MCA also says the requirement is based on crew carried rather than tonnage. UK MLC minimum-requirement regulations exclude pleasure vessels and vessels not ordinarily engaged in commercial activities. [2]

For a UK-flagged yacht, check the safe-manning document, ordinary crew number, voyage pattern and commercial status before deciding what the crew file needs.

Cayman example

Cayman’s guidance is directed to owners, managers and masters of Cayman yachts and passenger yachts. For an MLC-applicable vessel ordinarily operating with ten or more seafarers, on voyages of more than three days or more than 36 hours from a safe port, the shipowner must ensure that a fully qualified cook is carried. Cayman defines Ship’s Cook in this context as the person or people responsible for food and catering services for crew; a visiting chef cooking only for guests is not a Ship’s Cook for that MLC purpose. [3]

The Cayman and UK examples are helpful operational references. They are not a substitute for checking the current rule of the yacht’s actual flag.

4. Prepare the crew file before it becomes urgent

For the designated role, keep a short, current evidence pack. The exact contents depend on the relevant flag and route, but a useful manager checklist is:

1. Role record: who is designated for crew food and catering, with the yacht’s flag and operational context.
2. Training and assessment record: the Ship’s Cook training/assessment evidence relevant to the route used.
3. Official-certificate record: the official national Ship’s Cook certificate, where one has been issued or is required for the role.
4. Supporting qualification documents: the applicable sea service, STCW training, medical fitness, cook qualification or other evidence required for the individual route.
5. Food-safety records: hygiene, HACCP, company or operator training for the crew who actually handle food.
6. Flag-specific confirmation: any flag approval, equivalence record, safe-manning reference or written clarification needed for the vessel’s specific position.

Do not assume that a food-safety certificate replaces a Ship’s Cook qualification, or that a Ship’s Cook certificate removes the need for role-specific safety and hygiene records.

5. Where Cook’s Ticket fits in the Danish route

Cook’s Ticket provides recognised digital training and assessment for ship’s cooks. A suitable candidate completes the programme, practical cookery video assessment and remote-proctored final examination. When the candidate passes, Cook’s Ticket issues its Certificate of Completion, and its authorised examiner confirms successful completion of the training-and-assessment component.

The candidate or employer then submits the other required supporting documentation to the Danish Maritime Authority for the official Danish Ship’s Cook Certificate. The Authority checks the applicable separate requirements — such as the relevant sea service, STCW training, medical fitness and qualification evidence — and issues the official certificate where those requirements are met. It does not repeat Cook’s Ticket’s training, practical assessment or final examination. [4]

For recognition under a specific flag, use the current Flag State Recognition record. It concerns the official Danish Ship’s Cook Certificate issued by the Danish Maritime Authority, not Cook’s Ticket’s Certificate of Completion.

6. A five-minute manager review

Before a crew change, a new charter pattern or a compliance review, ask these five questions:

1. Which flag’s rules apply to this yacht today?
2. Is the yacht commercially operated and within the relevant MLC scope?
3. Who is responsible for crew food and catering in practice?
4. What training, qualification and supporting documents does that person need for this flag and operation?
5. Is the evidence current, accessible and consistent with the crew list and safe-manning arrangements?

If the answer to any point is unclear, resolve it with the flag, DPA, yacht manager, crewing team or other appropriate adviser before relying on a document.