WHAT IS RPSL NUMBER

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What does RPSL mean?

Recruitment and Placement Services Licence (RPSL) is mandated by the Directorate General of Shipping for authorised recruiters and agents in India. Recruitment & Placement Services (RPS) rules issued by the Govt of India and enforced under the Indian Merchant Shipping Act, which provides a mechanism for protection of Indian seafarers working on Indian and Foreign flag vessels and the necessary safeguards for their repatriation in the event of their being stranded or during such other exigencies, when the ship owner fails to discharge the duty of repatriating the seafarers to the home port of the seaman. All RPS providers is issued with a Recruitment & Placement Services License (RPSL) number.

The motto of RPSL is as following:

To maintain the transparency and record of agencies and their respective Principals: so that no crew can make fake experiences of principal and appear for exams in the country. In such cases government can verify those experiences of principal from authorized agencies. Agencies have to submit the details of their clients for whom they are providing manning services.
Crew management Agency can maintain the record of crews and issue the genuine experience letter,so that crews can appear for exams in India. (Agencies can issue experience letter for only those vessels and principals whose documents are submitted and their details are updated with DG shipping)
Government wants to assure that seafarers who are selected by principals from India are adequately insured as per rules and regulations of MLC, IBF and CBA
If in case of any injustice is done to crew from principal’s side like salary is not paid, or any type harassment in such cases government can hold authorized agencies responsible and can take necessary action on agencies.
MMD (Marine Mercantile Department) will act as regulatory body over these agencies and hence sub graded and un- professional agencies will be eliminated.
Many shipping companies in international market demand and prefer only RPSL holder crew manning agencies. (Because these companies know that RPSL companies are disciplined and provide genuine crews as they are under government scanning)
The reason behind these steps taken by government is to safeguard crews and principal interests and support genuine crew manning agencies as per rules and regulations of MLC, IBF and CBA.
Some of the advantages of RPSL are mentioned in following table:

For	Advantages
Principal owner	They get genuine agency
	Get improved agency services
	Get hold on agency
	If crew misbehaves you can take action via agency
	As reportsare submitted to DG shipping, no crew can make duplicate experince of our principal
Crewing Agency	Transparent process
	control on crew and their behaviour
	We get genuine crews because of stricter selection process
Crews	Legal support in case of mishappening
	Recruitment from genuine agency
	Able to appear for exams in India
	Secured future