MaritimeCast

Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 2026

1. Introduction

Amaqhawe SA Technologies (Pty) Ltd ("MaritimeCast", "we", "us", "our") operates the MaritimeCast platform, a maritime crew identity and recruitment service. We are committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) where applicable, and all relevant data protection laws.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you use MaritimeCast.

By registering on MaritimeCast, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy and consent to the processing of your personal information as described herein.

2. Who we are

  • Company: Amaqhawe SA Technologies (Pty) Ltd
  • Trading as: MaritimeCast
  • Registration: South Africa (CIPC)
  • Email: support@crewdeck.com
  • Information Officer: As required under POPIA

3. Information we collect

3.1 Seafarers

When you create a seafarer profile, we collect:

Identity information:

  • Full legal name and display/stage name
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Nationality and country of residence
  • Profile photograph
  • Phone number and email address

Professional information:

  • Department, rank, and specialties
  • Years of experience
  • Sea service history (vessels, cruise lines, roles, contract dates)
  • Languages spoken
  • Contract preferences and availability

Documents (stored privately):

  • Passport (country, expiry date, document scan)
  • STCW and other maritime qualifications
  • Medical fitness certificates
  • Visa records
  • Police clearance certificates
  • Portfolio links (YouTube/Vimeo)

Scores:

  • Profile Completeness Score
  • Recruitment Readiness Score

(Calculated automatically from your profile data)

3.2 Recruiters

When you create a recruiter account, we collect:

  • Full name and job title
  • Company name, type, and registration
  • Company website and description
  • Work email address
  • Company logo
  • Subscription and billing information (processed by Paddle as merchant of record)

3.3 All users

  • Login credentials (email address; passwords are encrypted and never stored in plain text)
  • IP address and browser information
  • Usage data and activity logs
  • Consent records (date, time, version)
  • Support ticket communications

4. How we use your information

4.1 Seafarers

We use your information to:

  • Create and maintain your verified maritime identity profile
  • Calculate your profile scores
  • Make your profile discoverable to verified recruiters (only when visibility is set to Visible)
  • Process and manage contact requests from recruiters
  • Send certificate expiry alerts and profile completion reminders
  • Maintain POPIA compliance audit logs
  • Improve the platform and user experience

4.2 Recruiters

We use your information to:

  • Verify your identity and company legitimacy
  • Provide access to the talent search and contact request system
  • Process subscription payments via Paddle
  • Send billing notifications and subscription updates
  • Provide weekly talent digest emails (if enabled)

4.3 All users

  • To authenticate your identity and secure your account
  • To respond to support requests
  • To comply with legal obligations
  • To enforce our Terms of Service

5. What recruiters can see

Recruiters can NEVER see:

  • Your passport number or document scans
  • Your visa numbers or document scans
  • Your police clearance documents
  • Your medical certificate documents
  • Your date of birth
  • Your personal phone number or email address (until you accept a contact request)
  • Your home address

Recruiters CAN see:

  • Your display/stage name (not your legal name)
  • Your profile photograph
  • Your department, rank, specialties
  • Your professional bio
  • Your sea service history
  • Document STATUS only (Valid/Expiring/Expired — never the actual documents)
  • Your portfolio links (YouTube/Vimeo)
  • Your availability status
  • Your profile and readiness scores

Your legal name and contact details are only shared with a recruiter after you explicitly ACCEPT their contact request. You are always in control.

6. Document storage and security

All uploaded documents are stored in an encrypted private storage bucket. Documents are:

  • Never accessible via public URLs
  • Never shared with recruiters directly
  • Only accessible by you and MaritimeCast system administrators
  • Stored with AES-256 encryption
  • Access logged for audit purposes

Every time a recruiter views your document status, the access is recorded in our audit log in compliance with POPIA.

7. Data sharing

We do not sell your personal information to third parties. Ever.

We share your information only with service providers who help us operate the platform:

  • Supabase (database and authentication infrastructure — servers located in AWS data centres)
  • Paddle (payment processing — acts as merchant of record and handles all tax compliance)
  • Resend (transactional email delivery)
  • Lovable (application hosting infrastructure)

These providers are contractually required to protect your data and may not use it for their own purposes.

Legal requirements:

We may disclose your information if required by South African law, applicable international law, or valid court order.

8. Data retention

We retain your personal information for:

  • Active accounts: for as long as your account remains active
  • Deleted accounts: personal data is soft-deleted immediately on request, then permanently deleted after 30 days
  • Consent logs: retained for 5 years for POPIA compliance
  • Payment records: retained for 7 years for financial compliance
  • Support tickets: retained for 2 years
  • Document access logs: retained for 3 years for audit purposes

9. International users and GDPR

9.1 Global operations

MaritimeCast is operated by Amaqhawe SA Technologies (Pty) Ltd, a South African company. We serve users worldwide including seafarers and recruiters in the European Union, United Kingdom, United States, Asia-Pacific, and other jurisdictions.

9.2 EU and UK users — GDPR

If you are located in the European Union or United Kingdom, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or UK GDPR applies to our processing of your personal data.

Our lawful basis for processing your personal data is:

  • Contract performance: processing necessary to provide the MaritimeCast service you have signed up for
  • Legitimate interests: improving the platform, preventing fraud, ensuring platform security, and sending relevant service notifications
  • Consent: for marketing emails and optional notifications (withdrawable at any time via Settings → Notifications)

In addition to your POPIA rights (Section 10), EU and UK users have the right to:

  • Lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority (e.g. the ICO in the UK, or your national DPA in the EU)
  • Object to processing based on legitimate interests
  • Restrict processing of your data in certain circumstances
  • Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
  • Not be subject to solely automated decision-making that significantly affects you

Contact for EU/UK privacy matters: support@crewdeck.com

9.3 International data transfers

Your data is stored on servers operated by Supabase in Amazon Web Services data centres. By using MaritimeCast, you acknowledge that your data may be transferred to and processed in countries outside your own jurisdiction.

We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for international transfers through contractual data processing agreements with all service providers.

9.4 All other jurisdictions

Regardless of where you are located, we apply the same high standard of data protection to all users. If local laws in your jurisdiction provide additional rights beyond what is described in this policy, please contact us at support@crewdeck.com and we will honour those rights to the extent reasonably practicable.

10. Your rights

10.1 Rights under POPIA (all users)

As a data subject under POPIA, you have the right to:

Right of access: Request a copy of all personal information we hold about you. Contact: support@crewdeck.com

Right to correction: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information. You can update most information directly in your profile settings.

Right to erasure: Request deletion of your personal information. You can do this directly via Settings → Delete Account, or by emailing support@crewdeck.com. We will process your request within 30 days.

Right to object: Object to the processing of your personal information for marketing purposes at any time via Settings → Notifications.

Right to data portability: Download your profile data in JSON format before deleting your account via Settings → Delete Account → Download My Data.

Right to lodge a complaint: If you believe we have violated your rights under POPIA, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at: support@crewdeck.com. We will respond within 30 days.

11. Cookies and tracking

MaritimeCast uses essential cookies only:

  • Authentication session cookies (required for login to function)
  • Security cookies (CSRF protection)

We do not use:

  • Advertising or tracking cookies
  • Third-party analytics cookies
  • Social media tracking pixels
  • Any cookies that track you across other websites

12. Children's privacy

MaritimeCast is intended for maritime professionals aged 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has registered, please contact us immediately at support@crewdeck.com and we will delete the account promptly.

13. Data breach notification

In the event of a data breach that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will:

  • Notify the Information Regulator of South Africa within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach
  • Notify affected users without undue delay where the breach is likely to result in high risk
  • Provide information about the nature of the breach and steps taken to address it

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify registered users of material changes by email at least 14 days before the changes take effect. The updated policy will always be available at crewdeck.com/privacy.

Continued use of the platform after the effective date of changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

15. Contact us

For all privacy-related queries, data access requests, or to exercise your rights under POPIA or GDPR:

Amaqhawe SA Technologies (Pty) Ltd
Trading as: MaritimeCast
Email: support@crewdeck.com

Information Regulator (South Africa):
Website: inforegulator.org.za
Email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za