Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what arrangements are in place for determining safe manning levels on UK merchant ships for each (a) classification of ship, (b) trade route and (c) type of cargo.

There are no prescriptive regulations requiring certain numbers of crew for ship types, trade routes or types of cargo. The arrangements we have in place are explained in full in Merchant Shipping Notice (MSN) 1868.

Vessels of more than 500 GT are required to hold a Safe Manning Document.