What software for marine businesses covers
Software for a marine or yachting business keeps crew, certificates, vessels, owners and suppliers in one set of records. It sits on top of the inbox, reading CVs and requests as they arrive. We build these systems for UK crew agencies, yacht management firms and marine service companies whose coordination lives in email threads.
How a placement runs now
A captain needs a second engineer by Friday. What happens next is usually this.
- The request arrives by WhatsApp, then again by email with more detail.
- CVs sit as attachments across three inboxes, some current, some two seasons old.
- Someone checks STCW, ENG1 and the engineering ticket by opening each PDF.
- The shortlist goes out by email, and the replies come back on WhatsApp.
- The vessel record, the owner's contact and the supplier invoices live in other places.
Keep the inbox, add a layer on top
Crew and captains won't log in to your system. They email and they message.
What the layer does
- Reads incoming emails and attachments, and files each CV against a candidate record.
- Pulls certificate names and expiry dates out of the documents for a person to confirm.
- Links each request to its vessel and owner, so the thread has context.
- Drafts the shortlist email for the consultant to check and send.
Work where the messages already are
A new system that asks everyone to change how they communicate gets ignored. One that reads the inbox and keeps the records tidy behind it gets used. We have built an email-first coordination layer for a marine recruitment firm on this pattern.
Certificates that expire mid-season
An ENG1 lapses and nobody notices until the crew member is already aboard. Each candidate record holds every certificate with its issue and expiry date: STCW basic training, ENG1, engineering and deck tickets, flag state endorsements and visas.
The system warns the desk ahead of each expiry and can email the candidate a reminder. A person still checks the document itself. Reading a date off a scanned certificate is the kind of job AI does well, but it gets confirmed before anyone relies on it.
The services behind it
Questions from marine and yachting firms
Can it read WhatsApp messages?
Partly. WhatsApp Business can pass messages to a system, but personal WhatsApp can't. Most firms start with email, which carries the CVs and documents, and add WhatsApp Business later.
Do crew need to log in to anything?
No. Candidates and captains keep emailing as they do now. An optional link lets a candidate upload a renewed certificate, but nobody has to use it.
Can it track certificate expiry dates?
Yes. Every certificate is stored with its expiry date, and the desk sees what lapses in the next month. Dates read from documents are confirmed by a person before they count.
Is crew data kept secure?
Yes. Passports, medicals and certificates are personal data, so the system stores them encrypted, limits who sees what, and logs access. It runs in hosting held in your name.
Show us one placement
Book a free initial alignment call. Talk us through the last placement from first message to the crew member joining, and we'll tell you which part to build first.