STCW certifying bodies
Every seafarer's Certificate of Competency is issued and revoked by the flag state's maritime administration under STCW Regulation I/2. This directory identifies 18 administrations with issuing-authority information we have verified — hand-curated or Firecrawl-sourced from the administration's own site — plus links to their online certificate-verification portals where they exist.
For the verification-portal deep-dive (with FAQ on how PSC officers check certificates), see STCW certificate verification by flag state.
Top-10 STCW admins (hand-verified)
The busiest issuing authorities by seafarer volume — over 80% of the world's serving crew hold a Certificate of Competency from one of these ten administrations.
MARINA (Maritime Industry Authority)
DG Shipping (Directorate General of Shipping)
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
USCG National Maritime Center
Autoridad Marítima de Panamá
Liberian Registry (LISCR)
Republic of the Marshall Islands Registry
Bahamas Maritime Authority
Norwegian Maritime Authority (Sjøfartsdirektoratet)
Hellenic Ministry of Maritime Affairs
Additional STCW admins (8)
Firecrawl-cached data from each administration's official website. Verification-portal availability varies — some issue via email/postal request rather than an online lookup.
- 🇨🇳China
中华人民共和国海事局
- [](https://mail.msa.gov.cn/)
- 🇩🇰Denmark
Danish Maritime Authority | dma.dk
We have gathered all our services on one platform, so you have easy access to exactly what you need. Find services for seafarers, manning, shipowners, education and shipregistratio…
- 🇩🇪Germany
Startseite
Unser Service-Team kümmert sich 24/7 um Ihre Anliegen zur Deutschen Flagge. Ab sofort sind wir unter der neuen Telefonnummer 040 2091 6373 erreichbar.
Direktorat Perkapalan dan Kepelautan
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- 🇲🇲Myanmar
DEPARTMENT OF MARINE ADMINISTRATION
The Department of Marine Administration (DMA), under the Ministry of Transport, deals with maritime and shipping affairs, endeavouring the development of national maritime transpor…
Home | Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport (ILT)
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Home | Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
Information that may interest you
- 🇹🇷Turkey
Denizcilik Genel Müdürlüğü
İSPANYA DENİZCİLİK İDARESİ İLE STCW PROTOKOLÜ İMZALANDI\\ DEVAMI](https://denizcilik.uab.gov.tr/haberler/ispanya-denizcilik-idaresi-ile-stcw-protokolu-imzalandi "")
Flag states awaiting verification
118 flag states in the directory don't yet have a verified STCW admin listing. Each links to its flag-state page where MLC ratification, PSC risk band, and general administrative contacts are documented.
Related resources
- · STCW certificate verification by flag state — how PSC officers verify certificates + FAQ.
- · STCW certifications — the certificate types issued by these bodies.
- · STCW reference — Regulation I/2 issuing-authority requirements.
- · Classification societies — the IACS-recognised bodies that certify vessels (distinct from STCW admins that certify seafarers).
Editorial confidence: how we grade. Admin URLs are Firecrawl-cached; verify the current issuing procedure with the administration before relying on it for certificate applications.