Terms of use

Laiva (laiva.io), operated during its founding period by its founders in the United Kingdom and Italy, referred to as “Laiva”, “we” or “us”. The registered entity, address and contact details will be confirmed here before public launch. Until then, contact us at privacy@laiva.io.

Laiva is a recruiting platform and managed service for superyacht captains and crew. Crew build a verified profile with Finn, our career agent. Vessels and management companies brief Isla, our recruiter, and receive a shortlist of verified profiles with the reasons behind each match. Introductions happen only when both sides say yes.

During the founding period Laiva is people-first: every verification, shortlist and introduction is reviewed by the Laiva team. The agents assist; people decide.

You must be at least 18 and a professional seafarer, or hiring on behalf of a vessel, owner or management company, to use the platform. You are responsible for the accuracy of what you tell us. Crew must not claim tickets, sea service or references they do not hold; vessels must not misrepresent a position, its terms or the vessel.

A crew profile is private by default. No vessel sees your profile, your name or your contact details until a vessel has said yes to a match and you have said yes to that specific introduction. Discretion mode hides your profile from your current vessel and its management company; it is on by default and you can change it at any time.

You can update, pause or ask us to delete your profile and documents at any time by writing to privacy@laiva.io, or through Finn. See the privacy notice for how we handle your data.

You may upload certificates, sea-service records, medical certificates, a CV and similar documents so that Laiva can verify your profile. By uploading them you confirm they are genuine and yours. Verification documents are seen only by Laiva’s verification team — never by vessels — and are used only to verify your profile. A CV, if you upload one, is shared with a vessel only as part of an introduction you have said yes to. “Verified” means Laiva’s team has checked the document; the agents never assert verification on their own, and verification is not a guarantee of suitability for any position.

A brief is a request, not an order. Shortlists are recommendations: match scores and written reasons are generated with AI assistance from structured profile data and reviewed by the Laiva team; they are not a guarantee of suitability or availability. A shortlist is presented as a set of three; a vessel may say yes to the set or to individual candidates, and each candidate decides for themselves. An introduction exchanges contact details between a vessel and a crew member who have both said yes. What happens after the introduction — interviews, trial periods, contracts of employment — is between the vessel and the crew member, subject to the placement agreement.

Crew are never charged — not to join, not to be verified, not to be placed. The Maritime Labour Convention 2006 prohibits charging seafarers for placement, and we agree with it.

Vessels and management companies may be charged in three ways: an introduction fee when the vessel and a candidate both agree to an introduction; fees for optional services requested by the vessel (such as interview coordination, references or contract support); and a placement fee when a crew member introduced by Laiva is hired. Amounts and payment terms are set out in the placement agreement or confirmed in writing before they apply. No exclusivity and no retainer unless agreed in writing.

If a vessel hires a crew member it was introduced to by Laiva, the placement fee applies whether the hire is arranged through us or directly, for the period stated in the placement agreement. This is how verification stays free for crew.

Do not upload documents that are not yours or that have been altered; do not scrape, copy or redistribute profiles; do not use the platform to harass anyone or to contact crew outside an agreed introduction; do not attempt to access other users’ data. We may suspend or remove access for breaches of these rules.

Finn, Isla and the matching engine use large language models from third-party providers under terms that prohibit training on our data. Their output can be wrong. The agents are instructed never to claim anything is verified and never to invent facts — where they do not know something, a member of the Laiva team will confirm it. Treat their output as assistance, not advice; in particular, immigration and visa information from the agents is general and must be confirmed for your passport and itinerary before you rely on it. Every agent conversation is logged so the Laiva team can review it.

We provide the platform with reasonable care and skill but without warranty that it will be uninterrupted or error-free, and we do not guarantee that any introduction leads to a hire. To the extent permitted by law, our liability arising from use of the platform is limited to the fees paid to us in respect of the placement concerned. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death, personal injury, fraud or anything else that cannot be limited by law.

We may update these terms as the platform develops; material changes will be notified to account holders and the date at the top will change. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, with the courts of England and Wales having jurisdiction, without affecting the mandatory protections of the country you live in. Questions: privacy@laiva.io.