On 20 November 2025, the Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) quietly took a big digital step. It announced a strategic partnership with IDsure, a digital identity and credential platform, to move Seafarer Record Books and Certificates of Competency from paper to secure digital form. The project sits inside the BMA’s online BORIS system and aims to make life easier for seafarers, ship managers and training centres.
For anyone sailing under the Bahamas flag or planning to, this shift matters. It changes how you receive and manage your documents, how companies verify them, and how training centres report your courses. Let’s walk through what “Bahama’s flag digital certification” really means in practice.
Bahama’s flag digital certification and the BMA–IDsure system
The BMA describes itself as one of the world’s leading flag states, with a large deep-sea fleet and a global office network in Nassau, London, Piraeus, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Its Seafarers & Manning Department already issues a wide range of documents: STCW Certificates of Competency, endorsements, Seafarer Record Books, tanker and passenger-ship endorsements, GMDSS and rating certificates.
Until now, most of that process ran on paper or scanned PDFs. Applications meant forms, passport photos, signatures, courier delays and back-and-forth with manning agents. The new partnership changes that core workflow.
According to the BMA announcement, all issuance of Seafarer Record Books and related competency certificates will now flow through BORIS and connect directly to the IDsure platform. Once a seafarer verifies their identity in the IDsure app, the system releases their digital Seafarer Record Book and certificates straight into their personal account—instantly, rather than after days or weeks.
The BMA says this approach improves:
- Speed: no more waiting for paper mail or manual uploads.
- Security: credentials sit inside a tamper-proof digital wallet.
- Transparency: authorities and companies see the same trusted record.
- Environmental footprint: less printing, scanning and courier shipping.
For seafarers, that all rolls up into one simple idea: your Bahamas documents will live in your phone and in BORIS, not in a stack of aging booklets and plastic folders.
How the digital Seafarer Record Book and CoC will work
IDsure describes the new Seafarer Record Book as “fully digital, mobile-ready and tamper-proof”, issued directly to the seafarer after identity verification.
The flow looks like this:
- You apply for a Bahamas Seafarer Record Book or CoC/endorsement through the usual BMA channels.
- BMA staff review and approve the application inside BORIS.
- You complete identity verification through the IDsure app.
- The system issues your digital Record Book and certificates straight into your account.
After approval, ship and crew managers do not need to chase extra passport photos or ink signatures. The digital credential becomes the reference.
IDsure’s platform also supports online verification. A company or port-state officer can scan or check a digital credential and match it against BMA’s records, which reduces fake or altered certificates. The partnership aims to bring more trust and less friction into everyday checks.
What changes for training centres and manning offices
The Bahamas flag has around 35 approved training centres worldwide, each audited every five years. They issue thousands of course certificates that the BMA needs to monitor and validate.
Under Bahama’s flag digital certification, those centres connect directly to the BMA via IDsure and BORIS:
- A training centre issues a course certificate through IDsure.
- IDsure sends that credential automatically into BORIS.
- The BMA sees the certificate at authority level in real time.
This closes a long-standing gap. In the old model, a seafarer finished a course, collected a paper certificate, then sent copies to employers and authorities. Now the authority sees the issuance immediately. That helps with:
- Faster endorsement decisions.
- Better oversight of training quality.
- Easier detection of irregular or duplicate certificates.
For manning offices, this should reduce email traffic, scanning work and the risk of mis-filed documents. They can log into BORIS, see digital status and move on.
Why the Bahamas flag cares about digitalisation
The BMA has been moving toward digital services for several years. Earlier initiatives included online payments, electronic vessel registration tools and digital statements for shipowners. The new step with IDsure sits inside that wider strategy and matches how many other regulators now treat digital identity.
At the same time, IDsure markets itself as a platform for regulated industries—where regulators, training bodies and individuals share a single digital framework for certificates, licenses and ID documents. The Bahamas flag now plugs straight into that infrastructure.
What this means for individual seafarers
If you work under the Bahamas flag or plan to switch, this change touches several points in your career:
- You will manage a digital Seafarer Record Book, not only a physical one.
- You can receive updated certificates quickly, which helps when a last-minute contract pops up.
- You gain a stronger defence against fake or altered documents attached to your name.
- You can prove your credentials from a smartphone or laptop during visa checks, crew changes or port inspections.
For many officers and ratings, the big practical question will be: “Do I still need the paper book?” The BMA has signalled a transition period and plans a further announcement when the digital service goes fully live in BORIS, so for now you should still follow the instructions in their seafarer documents pages and official notices.
From an employer’s perspective, Bahama’s flag digital certification may become a selling point. A digital-first registry with fast endorsements and clean credential tracking helps crewing managers rotate people faster and show charterers that compliance sits under control.
