RESOLUTION MSC.346(91)

(adopted on 30 November 2012)

 

APPLICATION OF SOLAS REGULATION III/17-1 TO SHIPS TO WHICH SOLAS CHAPTER III DOES NOT APPLY

 

 

 

THE MARITIME SAFETY COMMITTEE,

 

NOTING that, at its ninety-first session, it adopted, by resolution MSC.338(91), amendments to chapter III of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974 (hereinafter referred to as "the Convention"), in the form of new regulation III/17-1, requiring all ships engaged on international voyages to have plans and procedures for the recovery of persons from the water,

 

NOTING ALSO that, in emergency situations of distress, ships responding to a distress call involving  recovery  of  persons  from  the  water  may  not  necessarily  be  engaged  on international voyages and may be those to which chapter III of the Convention does not apply,

 

1.          AGREES that it is beneficial that, in an emergency situation where operations for the recovery of persons from the water are required, ships to which chapter III of the Convention does not apply nevertheless have plans and procedures for the recovery of persons from the water;

 

2.          INVITES  SOLAS  Contracting  Governments  to  determine  to  what  extent  the requirements of regulation III/17-1 of the Convention should apply to the following categories of ships:

 

.1           cargo ships of a gross tonnage below 500 engaged on any voyage;

 

.2           cargo  ships  of  a  gross  tonnage  of  500  and  above  not  engaged  on international voyages;

 

.3           passenger ships not engaged on international voyages;

 

.4           fishing vessels;

 

.5           high-speed craft under the 1994 and 2000 HSC Codes;

 

.6           dynamically supported craft under the DSC Code;

 

.7           special purpose ships under the SPS Code and the 2008 SPS Code; and

 

.8           mobile offshore drilling units under the 1979, 1989 and 2009 MODU Codes.