Nowadays the shipping is very complex business and the ship shall be considered not only as transport unit plying around the world ocean, but a unit which shall comply with the international and national requirements. In order to perform international voyages the ship shall have a set of valid documents on board. The international requirements are set up by the international conventions, codes etc. These requirements establish the minimum standards in shipping. The national requirements are the requirements of the administration of the state whose flag the ship is flying. Apart from that every ship is under the supervision of classification society which carries out surveys on behalf of the flag administration periodically in order to confirm that the ship is compliant to the international, national and class society standards. The proof of that compliance is the ship certificates and documents. The task and duties of the documentary department is to maintain complete data base for the ships’ certificates and documents with its validity and to organise the necessary surveys by the classification society periodically in order the ship to be always compliant to all standards and with valid certificates.