Seafarers Club Rotterdam

Situated in Schiedam

The Club is run by volunteers and is open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. when enough volunteers are available. 

We are here to serve you in any way we can. Please contact us or our chaplain if we can be of any assistance. A minibus has been donated so that we can offer a free pick-up service.

Any calls or messages can only be answered while the club is open.

Need a pickup?

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Job Vacancies

    We  are currently looking for the following to strengthen our management team:
          Board Member/Bestuurslid      Info
     We also require volunteers for the daily running of our club. Check out the ‘Volunteering’ page.

     If you are interested in any of the above opportunities or would like more information
     please contact us by sending a message via the form on the ‘Location & Contact’ page.

 

About us

We are a foundation whose object is to provide a contribution to the social and public wellbeing of seafarers who call in at the ports of Rotterdam or surrounding area and to perform everything that is related or conducive to it. We try to achieve this by the management and operation of  the Seafarers’ Club Rotterdam, registered as ‘Zeemanshuis Flying Angel’, in Schiedam.

Seafarers can enjoy a much needed rest ashore, a chance to get away from the ship, contact relatives, play games, have a drink and relax. We provide computers and free WIFI. There are billiards and table tennis tables, books, a chapel and many other amenities for seafarers to enjoy. On a regular basis, we organize special events like karaoke nights and barbecues in the summer.

Our seafarers’ club is completely managed and run by volunteers. This is made financially possible thanks to donations from our sponsors and a small profit from the products we sell.

What is a seafarer?

You can literally define a seafarer as someone who is deployed to serve aboard any type of seagoing vessel twenty-four hours a day. This may sound like a simple definition, but diving deeper into the profession will reveal a plethora of types of services and roles that individual seafarers can play in their jobs. The work of seafarers is often undervalued and their working conditions vary.

There are approximately 1.5 million international seafarers worldwide and they are so important to sustaining our way of life. In total, more than 90% of the world’s goods and fuels are transported around the world, thanks to seafarers.

Seafarers life on board

The life of seafarers can be far from idyllic, with many international seafarers regularly completing long term voyages which leave them isolated from friends, family and loved ones for up to nine months at a time. For others it is a career of choice which enables them to provide a better life for their families back home and is worth the sacrifice made by being away from them.

Seafarers club Rotterdam

Our club is an independent foundation linked to the worldwide organisation ‘The Mission to Seafarers’.

The Mission was set up to provide vital help and support to seafarers as they undertake their essential work. The roots of The Mission go back to 1856.
Offering practical and emotional support and spiritual guidance when asked, to all seafarers regardless of nationality, faith or creed, The Mission to Seafarers aims to provide as much help as possible to international seafarers through representation at over 200 sea ports across 50 different countries.
Does this story appeal to you and would you like to make a contribution to the welfare of seafarers, by means of a donation or by spending some time helping us with our work? Please feel free to contact us.

Our sponsors

Other useful websites

Please call or WhatsApp number +31 6 18861342 with the following information:

  • Your name
  • Your contact telephone number
  • The name of your ship
  • The Rotterdam Port Number where your ship is docked
  • ​The date and time that you would like to be collected
  • The number of people in the party

Please note that we read our messages and listen to voicemails after 5:30 p.m.

Instructions for our

Free Pick-Up Service

From Ship

Between 6.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m.

To Ship

Any time you choose until 10 p.m.

Port Chaplain

Life at sea can be really challenging, particularly now during the Corona pandemic. We are here to offer you help and support! Our Port Chaplain, Revd Dennis Woodward, and his team of ship visitors can still visit ships while taking all the necessary precautions.

For ship visits, spiritual support or welfare assistance, feel free to contact him (also via WhatsApp):

Telephone

+31 6 1377 2464 

Email

dennis.woodward@mtsmail.org

Revd Dennis Woodward has a YouTube channel where you can watch and listen to his monthly messages specifically recorded for seafarers, entitled “Services for Seafarers”.

To stay informed, please subscribe to his channel by clicking here: https://bit.ly/2UMCTMB

Facilities

  • Bar serving snacks and drinks (no spirits)
  • Television room
  • Library/Book exchange
  • ​Chapel
  • Free second-hand clothing
  • Free hand knitted hats & scarves
  • Currency exchange:  $ en £ for €

Sale of

  • Telephone cards
  • Souvenirs
  • Greetings Cards
  • Toiletries

We do not sell tobacco products

Leisure activities

  • Pool tables
  • Table Tennis
  • Darts
  • Dominoes
  • Playing ​Cards
  • Free use of ​Computers for Internet, Games and Skype

Volunteering

The clubhouse is completely managed and run by volunteers. New volunteers are always welcome, so if you feel that you can spend some time contributing to operational matters of our seafarers’ club or spend some time as a friendly face to seafarers far from home and family, this is the place to be.

We offer a place to different kinds of volunteers. It is, of course, possible to combine different volunteering roles. Serving as a volunteer at our club, you contribute to the welfare of seafarers and this is experienced as a fulfilling activity. You are also welcome to become part of our community of volunteers, to meet new volunteers and to have fun together.

Bar staff

As a bar staff volunteer you serve beer, wine and soft drinks in our club and you especially enjoy a friendly chat. You are able to offer a friendly ear to those who are away from their home and families for months at a time. The seafarers who visit us come from hundreds of different countries. We communicate with them in English, however you do not need to speak English fluently. The working hours for bar staff are at least once a month on one of openings nights from 5.30 p.m. until 11 p.m.

Pick-up drivers

As a volunteer driver of our VW minibus you are the first point of contact for visiting seafarers when they are welcomed ashore. Volunteer drivers are essential for transporting seafarers from their often isolated port locations. They pick up seafarers from their ship and drive them to our club in Schiedam and back again when they ask to return.

The working hours for pick-up drivers are at least once a month on one of our opening nights from 5.30 p.m. until 11 p.m. You must be in the possession of a Dutch driver’s license.

Ship visitors

Join our enthusiastic team of volunteer ship visitors under the guidance of our Port Chaplain. Serving seafarers in in the Port of Rotterdam is such a privilege! We are always looking for new volunteers who are good listeners, speak English, hold a valid driving license and have their own car to get round Europe’s largest port. Flexibility and commitment are key to this role and most importantly, any interested candidate would need to be passionate about serving seafarers!

The Mission to Seafarers is an international Christian welfare charity, so any applicant must respect and be willing to operate within our Christian ethos. Interested? Please contact our Port Chaplain on +31 6 1377 2464. 

Communication

We also need volunteers who have affinity with communication and social media. Someone who would like to maintain our Facebook page and send posts on a regular basis in order to spread the news of our club, to create a buzz for the special evenings we organize, to bring  attention to the work of our chaplain and any interesting news with regards to seafarers.

Your posts can also help to evoke possible interest from donors who can possibly support us financially. Maybe you feel that we must also be active on Instagram or organize a clubhouse discussion, we are more than interested to hear your ideas. You are flexible in the amount of time you can spend, as a guide, a minimum of one hour a week.

Management of the clubhouse

Are you a true organizer, someone who likes to structure, to anticipate, to run a clubhouse? Then you can be an important asset as a bar manager. Tasks consist of buying bar supplies, maintaining duty rosters for the bar and driver volunteers. Keeping an eye of the smooth running of the clubhouse. This role can be perfectly executed by two volunteers.

News & Media

Princess Anne

Volunteers prepare Christmas parcels.

On Friday December 7th 2023, the volunteers of the Seafarers’ Club Rotterdam spent the day preparing parcels to be delivered to seafarers on board ships arriving in the Port of Rotterdam during the festive season.   

We send our best wishes to seafarers everywhere.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Princess Anne

Princess Anne Visits the Seafarers Club Rotterdam in Schiedam 

On Friday March 5th 2022, her Royal Highness Princess Anne, patron of the Mission to Seafarers, paid a short visit to our clubhouse in Schiedam and had a friendly word for each of the volunteers who had turned out to meet her. Her previous visit was in 1993 when she opened the clubhouse and we hope that we will not have to wait so long until her next visit.

Before leaving the clubhouse, the Princess Royal unveiled a plaque and planted a tree to commemorate the jubilee of her mother, Queen Elizabeth. This is the first of many trees which will be planted all over the world outside the UK.  

The princess is also patron of Mercy Ships International so, after leaving us, she set off  to visit the largest hospital ship in the world, the ‘Global Mercy’, which is in the Port of Rotterdam until March 14th.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                > Read More

‘Mensen hebben geen idee wat zeevarenden met de pandemie moeten doormaken’

Zij zaten door corona maanden op hun schip, zonder dat ze ook maar een voet aan wal mochten zetten. ,,Zelfs dat recht is ze ontnomen’’, zegt Astrid Feitsema. Haar man Robert voer op een werkschip bij Taiwan, zonder te weten wanneer hij weer thuis zou zijn. Het Maritiem Museum in Rotterdam wijdt een expositie aan het leven op zee in de pandemie.

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Ships’ crews are the unsung heroes in our food supply chain, says reverend, and a pastoral visit can be a lifeline after months away from their families.

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Where to find us

Seafarers Club Rotterdam Schiedam ‘Flying Angel’
Admiraal Trompstraat 1
Haven 562
3115 HK Schiedam
​Telephone number: +31 (0) 104 260 933

KvK number 78157986

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Do you have any questions?

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Opening times

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 
6.00 p.m. until 10.00 p.m.

Pickup

Call or WhatsApp number +31 6 18861342
for pick-up between 6.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m.

Seafarers Club Rotterdam © 2021 – All Right Reserved

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