Seeärztlicher Dienst
Brandstwiete 1
20457 Hamburg
Phone: +49 40 361 37-365
Fax: +49 40 361 37-333
Mail: seeaerztlicher-dienst@bg-verkehr.de
Dr. Jörg Abel
Phone: +49 40 36137-336
Fax: +49 40 36137-333
Mail: joerg.abel@bg-verkehr.de
Beate Bahl
Phone: + 49 40 361 37-338
Fax: +49 40 361 37-333
Mail: beate.bahl@bg-verkehr.de
Jörg Labrenz
Phone: +49 40 36137-365
Fax: +49 40 36137-333
Mail: joerg.labrenz@bg-verkehr.de
Jan Schultz
Phone: +49 40 36137-335
Fax: +49 40 36137-333
Mail: jan.schultz@bg-verkehr.de
Annelie Ewen
Phone: +49 40 361 37-252
Fax: +49 40 361 37-333
Mail: annelie.ewen@bg-verkehr.de
Kolinda Cinfe
Phone: +49 40 36137-350
Fax: +49 40 36137-333
Mail: kolinda.cinfe@bg-verkehr.de
Marina Staude
Phone: +49 40 36137-340
Fax: +49 40 36137-333
Mail: marina.staude@bg-verkehr.de
Fitness for sea service
No seafaring without fitness for sea service
If you want to work at sea, you need to be physically and mentally fit (= fit for sea service). Seafarers often travel for months on end through various climate zones. They may not have any serious pre-existing conditions, because out at sea the next doctor is far away at land. Safe shipping is only possible with healthy and fit for duty seafarers.
On ships of traditional built crew members being part of the safe manning and whose capacity is listed in the Minimum Safe Manning Document (inter alia master, mate, machinist) have to be fit for sea service. Details on this are given in our information "Seediensttauglichkeit für Besatzungsmitglieder von Traditionsschiffen" (in German only).
Whether or not you are fit for sea service depends primarily on your health condition, but the role you are going to fulfil (i.e. the department you (will) work for) on board plays into it as well.
Advantages of the German medical fitness examinations
Seafarers and shipowners can choose the state that offers the best examination for them. We recommend the German medical fitness examination because of its many advantages:
- Only specially qualified, experienced and regularly trained physicians may perform German examinations. This strict and legally regulated selection of recognized medical practitioners ensures a lasting high quality of the examinations.
- The criteria for fitness for sea service are transparent, reproducible and plausible. They meet the high requirements of ILO/IMO guidelines regarding fitness for service.
- The Maritime Medical Service (Seeärztlicher Dienst) of the BG Verkehr controls and supervises the approximately 20,000 medical fitness examinations that take place every year and verifies the local recognized medical practitioners on a regular basis. It is a central maritime medical institution of the Federal government and has been certified according to EN ISO 9001 and by EMSA.
- All German medical certificates are recorded in a database of the Maritime Medical Service. Very strict data protection regulations are in place for this medical fitness register.
- In case of unfitness of a seafarer, the Maritime Medical Service retracts the medical certificate and informs the shipowner so that no unfit seafarer continues to sail. In case of a dispute, an objection committee of practitioners of the BG Verkehr decides in order for the seafarer's rights to be preserved.