EOR for Maritime & Shipping · UAE & GCC

Employment and visas for your GCC maritime teams, fully managed.

Auxilium sponsors work visas and employs your shore-based maritime, shipping and logistics staff across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC, as your Employer of Record. We handle residency visas, compliant contracts, WPS payroll and HR. Whether you're a shipping line, port-services provider, marine surveyor or maritime-tech company, we carry the employment workload so your team stays focused on cargo, vessels and clients.

Book a discovery call Get a quote

Visas & payrollhandled end-to-end

Days, not monthsto a compliant hire

MOHREauthorised employer

Matthew Weeks, Director of Growth at Auxilium · 15+ years in GCC employment solutions, including maritime & shipping. LinkedIn →

Reviewed May 2026

However you're set up, the employment is handled

The world's cargo moves through the GCC. Your shore team needs to be here.

The GCC sits on the world's east-west trade artery, Jebel Ali, Khalifa Port, Jeddah Islamic Port and a fast-growing maritime-services cluster around them. Shipping lines, agencies, surveyors, charterers and maritime-tech companies all need shore-based teams in-region: operations staff, chartering managers, port captains, superintendents and commercial roles.

That's what an Employer of Record provides. Auxilium becomes the legal employer of your shore-based staff and manages residency visas, compliant contracts, WPS payroll and HR. Established lines and agencies use us to keep regional teams lean; new entrants use us to put people at the ports before any local entity exists.

Two situations we're built for

If you have a regional presence

We run the employment for you

You have an agency, office or JV here, but would rather not run visas, payroll and HR for a specialist team in-house.

Employ your shore staff under Auxilium
Visas, Emirates ID, renewals handled
WPS payroll, allowances, gratuity
Your ops team stays focused on vessels

Book a call

If you don't have an entity

Put people at the ports without one

You need superintendents, ops or commercial staff in-region without establishing a company first.

Hire under Auxilium's entity
No formation, banking or licensing delays
Compliant contracts fitted to maritime roles
Establish your own entity later if you choose

Book a call

Why maritime employers use EOR here

Speed

Staff the port call, not the paperwork

Vessel schedules don't wait for company formation. A compliant offer lands in 5–10 working days, superintendents and ops staff in place when the tonnage arrives.

Coverage

One partner across GCC ports

Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Doha, employ a distributed shore team across markets through a single relationship.

Contractor fix

Convert informal arrangements

Paying a resident port captain or surveyor through an offshore agency carries misclassification and visa risk. We move them onto compliant local employment.

The maritime & shipping roles we handle the employment for

We don't recruit your team, you choose who to hire. What we do is employ and sponsor them compliantly once you have. These are the shore-based roles we most often handle the GCC employment and work-visa sponsorship for:

Port captains & marine superintendentsVessel-call oversight, technical superintendence and marine operations.Specialized technical work visa

Chartering & operations managersChartering, post-fixture, vessel-operations and bunker-desk roles.Standard work visa · golden visa if senior

Marine surveyors & inspectorsClass, cargo, P&I and condition surveyors serving GCC ports.Specialized technical work visa

Freight & logistics commercial staffTrade-lane managers, NVOCC commercial roles and key-account teams.Standard employment work visa

Crewing & fleet-support officersShore-based crewing coordinators and fleet-personnel support.Standard employment work visa

Regional directors & country managersSenior leadership anchoring the GCC shipping presence.Executive track · golden visa eligible

GCC maritime staffing: the routes that matter

Shore-based maritime staff are typically employed onshore mainland for unrestricted port access and client-facing scope, via MOHRE in the UAE or MHRSD in KSA. Free-zone employment (JAFZA, for instance) fits some agency and commercial structures; the right route depends on how the business trades and which ports the team works.

Important scope note: this service covers shore-based employment. Seafarers on articles fall under maritime/flag-state law rather than an EOR arrangement, we're clear about that boundary and advise where each role sits.

The mistake we correct most often: running resident superintendents, surveyors or ops staff through offshore payrolls or agency invoices. Anyone living and working in the UAE or KSA on a continuing basis needs local work authorization and compliant employment, the informality that was tolerated a decade ago is now a real liability.

As your Employer of Record, Auxilium puts each shore hire on the correct route from day one and runs WPS payroll, allowances and HR behind them.

What's shaping maritime hiring in the GCC right now

The GCC's ports are scaling into global top-tier hubs, and the services cluster around them is hiring hard.

Jebel Ali and Khalifa Port keep expanding capacity, Saudi Arabia is building out its Red Sea and Gulf ports under Vision 2030, and the maritime-services ecosystem, chartering, surveying, marine insurance, bunkering, maritime tech, is clustering in Dubai and growing fast.

For international lines and service providers, the question isn't whether to have people in-region but how fast they can be compliantly employed. An EOR answers that in days, without waiting on entity setup.

Reflects GCC port-expansion programmes and UAE/KSA employment provisions as of 2026. Role-specific requirements should be confirmed at point of hire.

“

Shipping is a business of schedules, the vessel arrives whether your paperwork is ready or not. The lines and service firms that operate smoothly here are the ones with shore teams compliantly employed and in place before the tonnage shows up.

Khawar Mann OBEChairman, Auxilium

How it works

Four steps, fully managed

Scope the roles

Which ports, which functions, what seniority. We confirm visa routes.

Compliant contracts

Employment agreements fitted to maritime shore roles.

Visa & onboarding

Residency visa, Emirates ID, medical, handled.

Employ & run payroll

WPS payroll, allowances, gratuity and HR, managed by us.

MOHRE-authorised EOR

Shore-based maritime specialists

GCC-wide port coverage

Common questions

What maritime buyers ask first.

Do we need a UAE or KSA entity to employ shore staff through you?

No. Auxilium is the licensed employer and sponsors the residency visa, so you can employ superintendents, ops and commercial staff whether or not you hold a local entity or agency agreement. Established lines often use us to keep regional teams off their core headcount.

Can you employ seafarers on vessels?

Our EOR service covers shore-based staff, superintendents, ops, commercial, surveying and support roles. Seafarers on articles fall under flag-state and maritime labour law rather than an EOR structure; we're upfront about that boundary.

Can you employ staff across several GCC ports?

Yes, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Doha and beyond, through a single relationship, with each hire on the right local route.

Can you convert our existing informal arrangements?

Yes. Resident staff paid through offshore payrolls or agency invoices carry real misclassification risk. We move them onto compliant local employment under our entity.

Employment and visas for your maritime team, handled.

Book a discovery call and we'll map the visa route, timeline and cost for your next shore-based hire.

Book a discovery call Get a quote

Dubai HQOffice 7, First Floor, Village Mall, Jumeirah 1, Dubai+971 4 546 7181

Abu DhabiAlahlia Tower, Al Khalidiya, Abu Dhabi+971 4 546 7181

RiyadhAnas Bin Malek, Riyadh 13521, KSA+971 4 546 7181

DohaPalm Tower, West Bay, Doha, Qatar+971 4 546 7181