The Liberia Ship Registry has issued Marine Advisory to provide guidance on the Safety Construction Intermediate and Renewal Survey Windows. According to a new SOLAS amendments to Chapter XI-1, Safety Construction Intermediate Survey may be carried out and completed anytime within the second or third annual survey or between these surveys, effectively providing an 18 month window to complete this survey.
The regulation also allows for Safety Construction Renewal Survey to be commenced at the fourth annual survey and progressed during the succeeding year with a view to completion by the fifth anniversary date, effectively providing a 15 month window to complete this survey. In particular, the amendment regulation ‘Regulation 2-1 – Harmonization of Survey Periods of Cargo Ships Not Subject to the ESP Code’reads:
For cargo ships not subject to enhanced surveys under regulation XI-1/2, notwithstanding any other provisions, the intermediate and renewal surveys included in regulation I/10 may be carried out and completed over the corresponding periods as specified in the 2011 ESP Code, as may be amended, and the guidelines developed by the Organization, as appropriate
And as a survey of the ship’s bottom is part of the Intermediate and Renewal Surveys, the bottom survey (in-water or in dry-dock) can be carried out anytime within these windows. It only needs to be ensured that there are a minimum of two bottom surveys during the five-year period of the Safety Construction certificate, and in all cases, that the maximum interval between bottom surveys is not to exceed 36 months.
The use of these windows to carry out the necessary surveys, including a ship’s bottom survey, should eliminate the need for any extension of these surveys, and eliminate the possibility of a vessel be detained by a port state. The Recognized Organization should be contacted for proper planning and endorsement of the certificate.