Galley equipment and tableware suppliers for ships: what the cook orders and why

The chief cook or chief steward lists what has broken or gone missing, and the master signs the requisition. That is common practice rather than a written rule, but the convention behind it is explicit. MLC 2006 Regulation 3.2 exists to give seafarers good quality food “provided under regulated hygienic conditions”, and Standard A3.2 requires the catering department to be organised and equipped to serve adequate, varied and nutritious meals in hygienic conditions.^[1]

The same standard requires frequent documented inspections by or under the authority of the master, and these explicitly cover the galley and other equipment for preparing and serving meals. A dented pot or a chipped plate is something an inspection writes down — and a requisition follows.^[1]

The WHO Guide to Ship Sanitation sets the material bar: equipment and utensils must be suitable for food preparation, storage and contact with food, and every food contact surface must be easy to clean and disinfect and kept in good repair. Galley waste containers should have foot-operated lids and be easy to clean.^[2]

The UK seafarers’ safety code asks operators to provide the correct galley equipment, and to set aside separate work surfaces, chopping boards and utensils for raw meat — colour coding being the established way to keep them apart. That is why colour-coded boards and knives appear on requisitions in sets.^[3]

Garbage compactors and food-waste grinders in this section answer MARPOL Annex V. The IMO guidelines expect ground food waste to pass a screen with openings no larger than 25 mm, and plastics to be removed before food waste goes into a grinder.^[4]

IMPA section 17 is one of the largest in the catalogue. Frying pans and cooking pots lead it, then tableware, plates and cups, roasting pans and mixing bowls, the Japanese-style kitchen utensils Asian-crewed ships order, general kitchen utensils, cutlery and electric cooking appliances. Storage containers, buckets and garbage bags, knives and Chinese-style tableware follow.

Most lines are priced per piece, per set or per dozen, and the IMPA description already fixes the essentials — pot capacity, pan diameter, blade length, plate size. A galley requisition is long: dozens of lines, small quantities each, often raised before a crew change or after an inspection.

Quote in the buyer’s unit — a dozen forks is not twelve forks priced singly if the line says DOZ — and say whether a set breaks. Where you offer an alternative to the IMPA item, give the dimension that changed: a 24 cm pan for a 26 cm line is a different item, not a substitute.

Galley lines rarely travel alone: the same requisition carries cleaning stores and linen, so suppliers who also hold cleaning chemicals can bid more of the order. On GeoMarineHub, choose section 17 among your categories and activate your ports; lines from the section posted there reach you, and bids stay sealed. Register as a supplier — free.