Maritime Transport Act 1994

Duties in relation to maritime activity - Duties in relation to crewing

25: Body and effects of deceased seafarer

You could also call this:

"What happens to a seafarer's body and belongings if they die at sea"

If you are the employer of seafarers on a New Zealand ship, you must make arrangements for a seafarer's body and belongings if they die during a voyage. You can return the body to their family or bury or cremate it. You should try to find out what the seafarer's family wants to happen and do that if you can.

When the law talks about a seafarer's "next of kin", it means their closest family members, which can include their civil union partner or de facto partner. You must make suitable arrangements for the body and belongings, and consider the family's wishes.

You have to do what the family wants if it is possible, and make sure you take care of the seafarer's body and belongings in a respectful way.

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This page was last updated on 25 May 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM335670.

24: Inspection of provisions, or

"Checking the food and supplies on New Zealand ships"

26: Provisions relating to crewing of New Zealand ships and young persons, or

"Rules for hiring young people to work on New Zealand ships"

Part 3Duties in relation to maritime activity
Duties in relation to crewing

25Body and effects of deceased seafarer

Subject to subsection (2), every employer of seafarers on a New Zealand ship shall make suitable arrangements for the body and effects of any seafarer who dies in the course of a voyage, which may include the return of the body to the deceased’s next of kin or the burial or cremation of that body.
The employer shall endeavour to ascertain the reasonable wishes of the deceased’s next of kin and shall, where practicable, comply with those wishes.
For the purpose of this section, a person’s next of kin may include that person’s civil union partner or de facto partner.

Compare

1952 No 49 s 106(2)

Notes

Section 25(3): added, on 26 April 2005, by section 7 of the Relationships (Statutory References) Act 2005 (2005 No 3).