Ship victualling calculator — provisions quantity and cost per crew

The arithmetic is short: person-days (crew × days until the next reliable supply) × a daily allowance per category, plus a reserve for delay. The judgement is in the inputs. UK guidance tells shipowners to take account of the duration and nature of the voyage, the number of crew and the nutritional value and variety of meals^[4]. Count the days to the next port where you can actually receive stores, not the days to the next port call.

Size perishables to what will be eaten in time. MSN 1845 is blunt: perishable provisions should neither be ordered nor accepted in quantities greater than can be consumed before the expiry date, and short-life produce such as fresh fruit and vegetables should be checked daily^[4]. Put the reserve into frozen and dry stores, and plan a fresh top-up where the route allows.

Then price it. The tool multiplies person-days by the daily rate you enter — your company’s victualling allowance or a supplier’s per-head quote — because rates vary by port, flag, crew nationality and catering contract, and no source we read publishes a current one. To turn the plan into prices, send it as a requisition and compare sealed quotes from ship chandlers at your port.

Regulation 3.2 of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 requires flag states to ensure ships carry and serve food and drinking water of appropriate quality, nutritional value and quantity, and that seafarers receive food free of charge during their engagement^[2]. Standard A3.2 sets the minimum: supplies suitable in quantity, nutritional value, quality and variety, having regard to the number of seafarers, their religious requirements and cultural practices as they pertain to food, and the duration and nature of the voyage^[2].

The same standard requires ships’ cooks to be trained, qualified and found competent; on ships with a prescribed manning of less than ten, anyone processing food in the galley must at least be trained in food and personal hygiene and in handling and storing food. No seafarer under 18 may work as a ship’s cook, and the competent authority must require frequent documented inspections of food and water supplies, storage spaces and galley equipment^[2]. What the convention does not do is fix grams per day — the ILO says the detail is for national laws or other measures^[3].

National rules mostly follow suit. The UK’s MSN 1845 (M) Amendment 2, published in March 2026, requires food and water suitable in quantity, quality, nutritional value, variety and balance, and a master’s inspection at least weekly, but prints no quantity scale; its diet guidance uses 2,000–2,500 calories a day for an average healthy adult^[4]. US law is one of the few with a number: at least three meals a day totalling at least 3,100 calories^[5].

MSN 1845 gives the store temperatures: cold stores and chill cabinets at 5 °C or colder, freezers at −18 °C or colder, dry stores dry and cool — where possible around 10 °C^[4]. Frozen stock held hard frozen from production to delivery and in storage on board may be used beyond its best-before date, which is why frozen meat and fish carry the long legs of a voyage^[4]. Stock is used in strict date rotation, and supplies should be bought with the best possible durability date^[4].

Without refrigeration, the limits are short. The 1941 scale itself warns that in ships with no refrigerator, fresh meat should not be relied on to keep for more than 15 days from loading, and lets salt or preserved meat stand in for it (⅔ lb salt meat or ½ lb preserved meat for 1 lb fresh)^[1]. For store sizing, Wärtsilä’s marine encyclopedia plans about 1.5 kg of dry, 1.4 kg of chilled (≈ 0.017 m³) and 1.1 kg of frozen provisions (≈ 0.023 m³) per person per day — the tool shows that check under the result^[6].

Modern rules set outcomes, so the most recent statutory weekly scale of provisions we could open in full is Ireland’s S.I. No. 432/1941, which substituted the First Schedule to the Merchant Shipping Act 1906^[1]. The tool divides each weekly allowance by seven and converts imperial pounds, ounces and quarts to kilograms and litres. It is a legal minimum from 1941: heavy on bread and potatoes, light on fresh fruit, with fresh fish, eggs and bacon counted inside the meat allowance. Use it as a floor and enter your company’s scale where you have one.

1. S.I. No. 432/1941 — Merchant Shipping Act, 1906 (Variation of Seamen’s Provisions) Order, 1941 — Government of Ireland, Irish Statute Book, 1941. Used for: Default kg per person per day for every category (weekly scale ÷ 7) and the 15-day fresh-meat note.
2. Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 — Regulation 3.2 and Standard A3.2 (Food and catering) — International Labour Organization (text as published on wetten.overheid.nl), 2006. Used for: What the convention requires: quantity, nutrition, quality, variety; free of charge; cooks; inspections.
3. MLC, 2006 FAQ C3.2.a — Is there a minimum standard for the food served to seafarers? — International Labour Organization, accessed 2026. Used for: The convention leaves quantities to national laws or other measures.
4. MSN 1845 (M) Amendment 2 — Food and catering: provision of food and fresh water — UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency, 2026. Used for: Store temperatures, ordering perishables, weekly inspection, 2,000–2,500 kcal, two-day water reserve.
5. 46 U.S. Code § 10303 — Provisions — United States Code (Pub. L. 98–89), via Cornell LII, 1983. Used for: At least 3 meals a day totalling at least 3,100 calories (US-flag merchant seamen).
6. Provision stores — Encyclopedia of Marine and Energy Technology — Wärtsilä, undated, accessed 2026-10-10. Used for: Store-sizing cross-check: dry 1.5, chilled 1.4, frozen 1.1 kg per person per day.