Quick answer: Equasis (equasis.org) is a free public database, maintained by a group of maritime administrations and organisations linked to the IMO, that lets anyone look up a vessel by name or IMO number and see its flag, classification society, P&I Club, ownership, and Port State Control inspection and detention history. It won’t tell you about onboard culture or crew treatment, but a pattern of recent detentions is a real, checkable red flag worth weighing before accepting a joining contract.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Website | equasis.org |
| Cost | Free (registration required for full detail) |
| What it shows | Flag, class society, P&I Club, ownership/management, PSC inspection & detention history |
| What it doesn’t show | Onboard culture, crew treatment, wage payment reliability |
Most cadets and junior officers accept a joining offer knowing almost nothing verifiable about the specific vessel they’re about to spend months aboard. Equasis is a free, legitimate way to check the vessel’s documented safety and compliance history before you sign anything.
What Equasis Actually Is
Equasis is a public database bringing together vessel information from multiple official maritime sources — flag state administrations, classification societies, and Port State Control regimes among them. It was set up specifically to make vessel safety information transparently available, rather than locked inside individual company or regulator systems. It is not run by any single shipping company, and it’s free to use.
Why This Matters Before You Join
A vessel’s Port State Control inspection history is one of the more objective, documented indicators available to you as a prospective crew member. A ship with a pattern of recent detentions or a long list of recorded deficiencies is telling you something concrete about how well that vessel — and by extension, its owner or manager — maintains safety and regulatory compliance. This is exactly the kind of information that’s otherwise very hard for an individual cadet or officer to access before joining.
How to Use Equasis, Step by Step
- Go to equasis.org and create a free account if you don’t already have one — full inspection detail typically requires being logged in.
- Search by vessel name or, more reliably, IMO number. The IMO number is a permanent 7-digit identifier that doesn’t change even if the vessel is renamed or reflagged, so it’s the most reliable way to search, especially for older or recently-renamed ships. Your joining letter or the manning agent should be able to give you the vessel’s IMO number.
- Review the vessel’s basic particulars — flag state, vessel type, build year, tonnage, and current classification society.
- Check ownership and management details — this tells you who actually operates the vessel, which may or may not be the same entity as the manning agent that recruited you.
- Review the Port State Control inspection history section. This lists past inspections, any deficiencies recorded, and whether the vessel was detained. Look specifically at how recent any detentions are and what kind of deficiencies were involved (safety equipment, crew certification, structural, and so on).
How to Interpret What You Find
- No detentions, few or minor deficiencies over recent years: generally a positive sign of consistent maintenance and compliance culture.
- A detention within the last year or two: worth specifically asking your manning agent about — what was the cause, and has it been resolved? A single past detention that was promptly fixed is different from a pattern of repeated issues.
- A pattern of multiple detentions or recurring deficiency types: a genuine red flag. This doesn’t automatically mean you should refuse the contract, but it’s exactly the kind of information that should factor into your decision and questions to your agent.
- Frequent changes in ownership or management: can sometimes correlate with financial instability, which is worth being aware of given how abandonment and unpaid-wage situations tend to arise (see our guide on abandonment rights).
What Equasis Won’t Tell You
A clean Equasis record is a genuinely good sign, but it’s a safety and compliance record, not a review of what it’s actually like to work on that ship or for that company. It won’t tell you about:
- How seniors treat cadets and junior officers onboard
- Whether wages are paid reliably and on time
- Food quality, internet access, workload culture
- How the company handles grievances or complaints
For that side of the picture, combine an Equasis check with talking to other seafarers who’ve sailed on the same vessel or for the same company, and with checking the manning agent’s own RPSL license status using our RPSL verification guide.
The Bottom Line
Checking a vessel on Equasis takes a few minutes and costs nothing, and it gives you documented, objective information that most cadets never think to look up before joining. It’s not a complete picture on its own, but combined with agent verification and word-of-mouth, it meaningfully improves how informed a decision you’re making before you sign.
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