When Excel is enough
- A few dozen seafarers, and one manager works with the database.
- You rarely send application forms to shipowners.
- You check document expiry by hand, and it does not take long.
7 signs it is time for software
- Two managers edit the same spreadsheet at once — and data gets lost.
- You find out about an expired medical or visa when the seafarer is already needed on board.
- You retype CVs into each shipowner's format by hand — an hour per seafarer.
- Document scans are scattered across folders and mailboxes.
- You cannot quickly find, say, every chief officer with tanker experience ready to join next month.
- There is no backup — or nobody knows where it is.
- Management cannot see how many seafarers were placed and where.
What software gives you
- Document expiry reminders well in advance.
- Shipowner CV forms in one click.
- Search and filters by rank, vessel type, experience, availability.
- Individual logins and rights for every manager.
- Backups and export to Excel at any time.
Off-the-shelf system or your own software
Large crew management systems are powerful but expensive, and they make you reshape your work around them. For a small crewing agency, software built around its own processes is often the smarter choice: it does exactly what you need and grows with you.
AI
AI in your crewing work
- Forms, CVs and scans go straight into the database; the manager just checks.
- Letters to shipowners, vacancies and replies to seafarers — drafts in a minute.
- Seafarers' passports and documents stay in a local model, never sent online.
- I train your managers — I work with Claude Code, ChatGPT, LM Studio and Ollama myself.
FAQ
Questions and answers
Can you move our Excel database?
Yes — without losses, checking every record.
Where is the data stored?
With you: on an office computer or server, or in a cloud of your choice.