Seafarer CDC Name Mismatch in Uttarakhand: INDoS Profile and Merchant Navy Papers

The first three rows are from the shipping directorate's published answers and its 2020 order on updating the seafarer profile. The last three are from guides written by seafarers. Read the directorate's present circulars.

The directorate's order treats a change of name, date of birth, gender or place of birth as a matter needing its own request. It is not something a training institute or a company can alter for you.

The second can happen to those who joined young. A first passport taken in a short name becomes the pattern for every sea paper after it.

Step 1: Lay your passport, your discharge book and your seafarer profile side by side

Name, date of birth and place of birth, on each.

Step 2: Take the passport as the standard

Where it is right. Every sea paper is read against it.

Step 3: If the passport itself is wrong, correct it first

A re-issue. Do nothing to the sea papers until it is in hand.

Step 4: Decide if the difference is a small slip or a different name

A typing slip is one thing. A new or much altered name is another.

Step 5: Ask for a correction of personal details from your seafarer profile

Online, on the shipping directorate's site, with a scan of your latest passport.

Step 6: For a different name, add the Gazette notification

Guides say it is asked for where the change is a large one.

Step 7: Once the profile is right, have the discharge book corrected

Through the Shipping Master's office that issued it, with the fee and papers it asks for.

Step 8: Tell your company, and check every certificate before you next join a ship

Certificates of training and competency carry your name too.

• Every seafarer has a profile on the shipping directorate's site, opened with the database number.
• The directorate's published answers say a wrong name, date of birth or address is corrected by the seafarer online.
• Its 2020 order describes a request for correction of personal details, made from the profile, with the passport uploaded.
• Guides say a small slip is settled on the passport alone.
• Guides say a major change of name calls for a Gazette copy as well.
• Download the profile after it is corrected, and read it: name, father's name, date and place of birth.

We did not read the 2018 circular itself, or any later one. The directorate's site has them. Ask its help desk where the online request does not go through.

• Training certificates are uploaded to the profile by the institutes, under your database number.
• The directorate's order tells institutes to check that a candidate's profile is right before uploading.
• A certificate issued in a wrong name is taken up with the institute that issued it.
• A certificate of competency is the directorate's own paper. Ask it how a corrected name is carried onto it.
• Your manning company holds copies of everything. Give it the corrected set before your next contract is drawn.
• A contract, a visa and a joining letter made on old papers will each repeat the old name.

Read overseas job name mismatch and documents to update after a Gazette name change.

Step 1: Confirm that it is a change of name, and not a typing slip

A slip is corrected on the passport alone.

Step 2: Do it between contracts

A name change with papers in three offices cannot be done from a ship.

Step 3: Fix the exact new name

As it will stand in the passport's two boxes, and then on every sea paper.

Step 4: Make the affidavit and publish the newspaper notice

Sign before a notary. Publish in a daily local leading newspaper, and keep the original newspaper.

Step 5: Type the form and sign the undertaking

Two typed copies of the specimen, signed in your old name with two witnesses, and the undertaking.

Step 6: Prepare the CD, photographs and certificate

The same text on a CD in MS Word, two self-attested photographs with identity proof, and a certificate that both copies match.

Step 7: Pay the charge on BharatKosh

Commonly Rs 1,100 for an adult. It is not refunded.

Step 8: Send the file yourself, then update in order

Send it to the Controller of Publications, Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054. Then Aadhaar, the passport, the seafarer profile, the discharge book and the certificates.

See gazette name change in Uttarakhand.

A typical case we handle: a rating from Pauri held a passport and sea papers in the name "Vikram Lal". He had since taken the surname "Arya", and used it on his Aadhaar. A friend told him to write to the Shipping Master. We told him the passport came first, and that a surname replaced by choice was a change of name. It was published in the Gazette of India, his passport was re-issued, and he then asked for his profile and his discharge book to be brought to it, during one leave. This is an illustrative example of the type of case we handle, not a named client review.

When you do not need us

For a typing slip, a stray word, a new passport number and a discharge book that differs from a correct profile. The directorate and the Shipping Master settle those on the passport. We are useful where the name itself is changing and a Gazette notification is asked for.

How do I correct my name in my seafarer profile?

By an online request, with a scan of the passport.

Which is corrected first, INDoS or CDC?

The profile first, then the discharge book.

Is a gazette needed for a seafarer CDC name mismatch?

For a major change, as guides say. Not for a slip.

Who corrects the discharge book?

The Shipping Master's office that issued it.

Should my CDC name match my passport?

Yes. They are read together.

What if my passport is wrong too?

Correct the passport first.

Which law governs Indian seafarers now?

The Merchant Shipping Act, 2025, passed by Parliament in August 2025, which replaces the Act of 1958. Reports say it came into force on 15 March 2026. Older guides that cite the 1958 Act may be out of date.

Is DG Shipping now called something else?

Reports of the 2025 Act refer to a Director-General of Maritime Administration, and recent official statements speak of DGMA. Check the present name on the ministry's site before writing to the office, and quote your INDoS number in every letter.

What is E-Samudra?

A digital platform launched on 8 August 2026 to bring maritime services for seafarers, shipping companies and ports onto one system, with online payments and tracking. Ask whether profile and discharge book corrections now run through it.

How many Indian seafarers are there?

The ministry said India's active seafarer workforce grew from about 1.03 lakh in 2013 to more than 3.23 lakh in 2025, making India the second-largest supplier of seafarers in the world.

What is the minimum age to work on a ship?

Reports of the 2025 Act put it at 16, with every seafarer to be medically fit and to complete mandatory training and certification. A first passport taken young should already be in the full name.

Where can a seafarer raise a grievance?

Reports name e-NAVIK, a 24x7 grievance system for seafarers launched with E-Samudra. Keep the reference number of any name correction request when you write.