Conventions

SOLAS explained

Published 28 August 2026 · updated 17 October 2026

Almost nobody on a broking desk reads SOLAS. They read the certificates it produces, and the dates on them. A certificate that runs out in the middle of a voyage is a business problem long before it is a safety problem. So knowing what is in the convention mostly helps you know which certificate answers which question.

What SOLAS is

SOLAS is the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. It is the oldest and the most important of the merchant shipping treaties. The first version was written in 1914, after the loss of the Titanic. The text in force today was adopted on 1 November 1974 and came into force on 25 May 1980. That is why people always write it as SOLAS 1974, as amended.

The words “as amended” matter more than they seem to. SOLAS is changed by tacit acceptance. This means the IMO adopts an amendment, and it comes into force automatically unless enough flag states object by a set date. Nobody has to sign anything again. So the SOLAS a ship is certified under this year is not the document signed in 1974. A statement that starts “under SOLAS” without a date is describing something that keeps changing.

SOLAS applies to ships on international voyages. Most of its main rules apply to cargo ships of 500 gross tonnage and above, and to passenger ships of any size. Purely domestic trade is for the flag state (the country where the ship is registered) to regulate. This is one reason a coaster working along one country’s coast has different duties from a ship of the same size that crosses a border.

The chapters

The annex has fifteen chapters, and they do not matter equally to a commercial desk. It helps to know which is which before someone refers to one in a negotiation.

The four a broker meets by name

Chapters IX and XI-2 each grew into a full code of their own. This library covers both separately, because both produce a document that a charterer asks for. Chapter IX is the ISM Code. It is why every ship has a company that holds a Document of Compliance for it. Chapter XI-2 is the ISPS Code. Security levels, and the security charge on a port bill, come from it.

Chapter XII applies only to dry bulk. It sets extra rules on structure and survival for bulk carriers. It exists because many bulk carriers sank with all their crew in a short period. You will not see it on a fixture note, but it is the reason the ship you are fixing is built the way it is.

Chapter VI is the one that comes up in disputes. It covers the carriage of cargoes, including the stability papers for grain and the rules for cargoes that may turn to liquid. Suppose a master refuses to load a nickel ore cargo because he does not trust its moisture content. He is not being difficult. He is doing what chapter VI and the related code require. Who pays for the time lost in port (counted as laytime) is a separate question from whether he is right.

The certificates are the part that matters in practice

SOLAS works by requiring surveys and issuing certificates. A cargo ship has three main certificates. Sometimes they are issued as one combined certificate:

• Cargo Ship Safety Construction Certificate, for hull, machinery and equipment.
• Cargo Ship Safety Equipment Certificate, for life-saving and firefighting.
• Cargo Ship Safety Radio Certificate, for GMDSS.

Next to them are the Safety Management Certificate from chapter IX and the International Ship Security Certificate from chapter XI-2. Each one is issued for a fixed term, usually up to five years, and kept valid by surveys in between. There is also an exemption certificate. It says a flag state has accepted something different from the exact wording of a rule.

The flag state issues the certificates, but in practice it almost never does the survey itself. It hands the work to a classification society acting as a recognised organisation. This is why people often confuse class with statutory certificates, and the difference is worth keeping clear. Class is a private contract about the condition of the hull and machinery. A statutory certificate is a state saying the ship meets a treaty. The same surveyor may sign both on the same day, but they answer different questions.

What a certificate does not tell you

A valid certificate says a survey took place and found nothing that stopped the certificate being issued. It describes the ship on one date. It says nothing about the condition of the ship today. Checking that is the job of port state control. The first thing an inspector does is check that the certificates on the bridge describe the ship he is standing on.

For a fixture, read the certificates for their dates, not for their legal meaning. Does any certificate expire during the planned voyage? Is a special survey or a drydocking due during the period you are fixing? A ship about to go into dock is not really free for a long voyage, whatever the position list says. Has the ship recently changed flag or manager? Then some of the papers are newer than the ship, and the continuous synopsis record under chapter XI-1 shows this.

None of this needs you to read the convention. You only need to know that SOLAS produces dated documents, and that the dates are the part of a safety system a commercial desk can act on.

References

• IMO, International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974. Convention page and chapter list
• IMO, SOLAS XI-2 and the ISPS Code. imo.org
• IMO, ISM Code and Guidelines on Implementation of the ISM Code. imo.org
• IMO, Status of IMO Treaties, 2024. PDF
• Paris MoU, Inspection database, detention lists and annual report. parismou.org

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