For decades the stores crane on the poop deck sat in a regulatory gap. Cargo cranes were certificated, tested and entered in a register because charterers and terminals demanded it; the provision crane, the engine-room crane and the hose-handling crane were maintained at the company’s discretion, under national rules that applied unevenly and an ILO convention many flags had not ratified. SOLAS regulation II-1/3-13 closed that gap on 1 January 2026. Onboard lifting appliances and anchor handling winches now sit inside SOLAS itself, with design to recognised class standards, permanent safe working load marking, documented evidence of that SWL, load testing and thorough examination on defined intervals, manufacturer manuals, and a register kept on board in the format set out in MSC.1/Circ.1663. The practical effect for most ships is not the cargo gear — that was already certificated — but the small cranes nobody had a certificate for. This guide covers what is caught, when it bites, the SWL threshold and flag discretion, testing and examination intervals, what the register must contain, and how to close the gap on an existing ship without a scramble at the renewal survey. Start a free trial of Marine Inspection to build the lifting appliance register and hold every test and examination record against it.
SOLAS II-1/3-13
The stores crane now needs the same paperwork as the cargo gear
In force from 1 January 2026, with existing appliances brought in at the first renewal survey on or after that date. The obligation is not new maintenance — it is provable maintenance, in a register an inspector can read.
Register of Ship’s Lifting Appliances
RegulationSOLAS chapter II-1, regulation 3-13
In force1 January 2026
CoversCargo, engine-room, stores and hose-handling cranes; anchor handling winches
ThresholdBelow 1,000 kg SWL may be treated differently at the Administration’s discretion
GuidanceMSC.1/Circ.1663, including the certificate formats
Existing shipsFirst renewal survey on or after 1 January 2026
Does it apply to this crane?
Three questions settle it for almost every appliance on board. Work through them for each item on the ship rather than for the ship as a whole — the answers differ between a provision crane and the cargo gear beside it.
Applicability — take each appliance in turn
The 1,000 kg line is discretion, not exemption
Appliances with a safe working load below 1,000 kg may be given modified requirements at the Administration’s discretion. That is a decision your flag makes, not one the ship makes, and flags have taken different positions. Before leaving a small davit or provision crane out of the register, get the flag’s written position and keep it with the register — an inspector asking why an appliance is missing wants a document, not an interpretation.
What the regulation actually requires
01
Design, construction and installation
New lifting appliances are designed, constructed and installed in accordance with the requirements of a recognised classification society. This is the requirement that catches owner-fitted equipment most often — a crane bought and welded on during a yard period without class involvement is difficult to bring into compliance afterwards.
02
Permanent SWL marking
Every appliance permanently marked with its safe working load, with documentary evidence supporting that figure. A painted number nobody can trace to a calculation or a certificate is not documentary evidence, and repainting a hull has erased more SWL markings than any other single cause.
03
Load test and thorough examination before first use
New appliances are load tested and thoroughly examined after installation and before being put to work, and again after any repair or alteration of a major character. Existing appliances are brought up to the same evidence base by the first renewal survey on or after 1 January 2026.
04
Recurring examination and testing
Thorough examination annually, and load testing at least once every five years or after work of a major character. Anchor handling winches are examined every year, and again after load testing and before returning to service following structural repair.
05
Operation and maintenance manual
Provided by the manufacturer, and where the original is unavailable — common on older ships and second-hand purchases — prepared by a competent third party. A crane with no manual has no defensible maintenance interval, which is precisely the gap this requirement closes.
06
Register and records on board
A Register of Ship’s Lifting Appliances and Cargo Handling Gear maintained on board, with certificates in the formats set out in MSC.1/Circ.1663, together with records of routine inspection and maintenance. The register is the artefact an inspector asks for first.
The testing and examination cycle
Two intervals do most of the work: a thorough examination every year, and a load test at least every five. Anything of a major character — repair, modification, alteration — resets both. See how due dates are tracked per appliance across a fleet rather than per ship, which is how small cranes get missed.
A five-year cycle for one appliance
Intervals as set out in the guidance. Your flag and class may impose additional or earlier requirements, and the appliance manual may require more frequent inspection than the regulation’s minimum.
Thorough examination is not a walk past
The term has a specific meaning, and it is the part crews most often underestimate. A thorough examination is a detailed visual examination by a competent person, supplemented by other means such as measurement and non-destructive testing where the person judges it necessary, with the purpose of reaching a reliable conclusion about the appliance’s safety.
Structure. Pedestal, jib, slew ring and its bolts, welds at high-stress points, corrosion at the base and anywhere water sits.
Machinery. Hoist and slew drives, brakes and their adjustment, limit switches, overload protection, emergency lowering arrangement.
Wire and terminations. Broken wires, corrosion, deformation, diameter reduction against the discard criteria, and the condition of end terminations and sockets.
Sheaves, blocks and hooks. Groove wear, bearing condition, hook throat opening measured against the datum, safety catch present and working.
Loose gear. Shackles, slings, chains and lifting beams, each with its own marking and certificate — loose gear is registered too, not just the crane.
Controls and protection. Emergency stop, guards, interlocks, and the load indicator or limiter where fitted, each tested rather than observed.
The register is the deliverable, and it is per appliance
Every crane, davit and winch with its SWL evidence, manual, test certificates, examination reports and maintenance history — held per appliance across the fleet, with due dates that surface before the renewal survey rather than during it.
Closing the gap on an existing ship
Most ships will find the cargo gear already compliant in substance and the small appliances missing everything. The work is an inventory problem before it is an engineering one.
1
Inventory every lifting appliance on board. Walk the ship and list them: cargo cranes, provision and stores cranes, engine-room cranes and overhead beams, hose-handling cranes, anchor handling winches. Include the ones nobody thinks of — the beam over the purifier flat, the davit at the bunker station.
2
Record the SWL and find the evidence. For each one, what is it marked with and what document supports that figure. Unmarked or undocumented appliances are the real scope of work.
3
Check existing certification. Certificates issued before 1 January 2026 under other international instruments, such as ILO Convention No. 152, are accepted. Find them before commissioning new testing you may not need.
4
Get the flag’s position on appliances below 1,000 kg. In writing, filed with the register, so the decision is defensible at inspection.
5
Locate or commission the manuals. Manufacturer manuals where they exist; a competent third party where they do not. This has a lead time, which is why it belongs early rather than at the survey.
6
Plan testing against the renewal survey date. Load testing needs test weights or an approved alternative, a suitable berth and time. Discovering that at the survey is how ships end up with conditions of class.
7
Build the register in the MSC.1/Circ.1663 format. Certificates in the specified formats, plus routine inspection and maintenance records. A register that exists but is not in the expected format invites a longer conversation.
8
Set the recurring cycle. Annual thorough examinations and the five-yearly load test, tracked per appliance with alerts, so the small cranes do not drift out of date between renewal surveys.
Where ships will be found short
The provision crane has no certificate at all. Maintained for years, never tested, never registered — the single commonest gap.
SWL marking painted over or corroded away. The crane is fine; the evidence of what it may lift is gone.
Owner-fitted equipment with no class involvement. A crane or beam added during a yard period on the owner’s account, outside the classed scope.
No manual for a second-hand or superseded unit. Maintenance intervals set by habit rather than by the maker.
Engine-room lifting beams forgotten entirely. Fixed beams and trolleys are lifting appliances and are routinely left off inventories.
Loose gear uncertificated. Shackles and slings in use with no marking and no certificate, alongside a properly certificated crane.
Records held ashore, not on board. The register and the maintenance records are required on board, where the inspection happens.
Assuming the sub-1,000 kg appliances are exempt. They are subject to the Administration’s discretion, which is not the same thing.
Maintenance and compliance schedule
Interval
Task
What good looks like
Before each use
Visual check of wire, hook, safety catch, controls and emergency stop; check the SWL marking is legible
Operator check recorded for lifts that warrant it; nothing used with an illegible SWL
Weekly
Grease slew ring and sheaves; check hydraulic levels and for leaks; operate through full travel
Appliance exercised rather than left idle between stores deliveries
Monthly
Inspect wire rope over its full length against the discard criteria; check terminations and sockets
Broken wires counted and recorded, not estimated
Monthly
Test limit switches, overload protection and emergency lowering
Each device proven individually, with the result written down
Quarterly
Check brake adjustment and lining condition; inspect structure and slew ring bolts for corrosion and security
Bolt torque checked to the manual, corrosion addressed before it reaches the connection
Quarterly
Inspect and certificate-check all loose gear; withdraw anything unmarked from service
Every shackle and sling traceable to a certificate
Annual
Thorough examination by a competent person, with report
Report filed in the register, defects closed out and the closure recorded
Annual
Anchor handling winch thorough examination, where fitted
Examined every year, and again after load testing or structural repair before returning to service
Five-yearly
Load test to the required proof load; re-examine after the test
Certificate in the MSC.1/Circ.1663 format, filed in the register
After major work
Load test and thorough examination following repair, modification or alteration of a major character
Both done before the appliance returns to service, not at the next scheduled date
Ongoing
Keep the register, certificates, manuals and maintenance records on board and current
One place, complete, and findable by someone who did not build it
Troubleshooting the compliance position
Situation
What it usually means
What to do
Crane has no SWL marking
Marking painted over, corroded away, or never applied to owner-fitted equipment
Trace the SWL through the maker or original documentation, then mark permanently. Do not invent a figure from the crane’s appearance.
No manual can be found
Original lost, or the unit was second-hand when fitted
Commission a manual from a competent third party. Allow lead time; this is not a same-week item.
Certificates are pre-2026 under ILO 152
Likely acceptable
Valid certificates issued before 1 January 2026 under other international instruments are accepted. File them in the register rather than re-testing unnecessarily.
Appliance is below 1,000 kg SWL
Subject to the Administration’s discretion, not automatically exempt
Obtain the flag’s written position and keep it with the register.
Load test due but no test weights available
Planning problem, not a technical one
Arrange weights or an approved alternative method against a suitable port call, well before the renewal survey date.
Examination report lists defects, nothing recorded since
Open findings with no closure evidence
Close them out and record the closure. An open finding carried between examinations is worse than the original defect.
Engine-room lifting beam not in the inventory
Fixed beams routinely overlooked
Add it. Fixed beams and trolleys are lifting appliances and need SWL marking and examination.
Records held only in the office system
Register not available where the inspection happens
Keep the register and records on board, in the required formats, however they are also held ashore.
Crane fitted during a recent yard period
Possibly installed outside class scope
Establish whether class was involved. Retrofitting compliance is far harder than arranging it at installation, so raise it now rather than at the survey.
Wire rope near the discard criteria
End of service life approaching
Renew against the criteria in the standard and the manual, and record the reason. Do not run it to the examination and hope.
Frequently asked questions
Q
Which cranes does SOLAS II-1/3-13 cover?
Onboard lifting appliances including cargo cranes, engine-room cranes, stores and provision cranes and hose-handling cranes, together with anchor handling winches. It is the small cranes, previously outside any consistent certification regime, that represent the change for most ships.
Q
When does it apply?
From 1 January 2026. New appliances are those with keel laying or a similar stage of construction, or a contractual or actual delivery date, on or after that date. Existing appliances must comply by the first renewal survey on or after 1 January 2026.
Q
Are appliances under 1,000 kg exempt?
Not automatically. Appliances with a safe working load below 1,000 kg may be given modified requirements at the Administration’s discretion. That is a flag decision, so obtain the position in writing and keep it with the register rather than assuming an exemption.
Q
How often is load testing required?
Before first use for new appliances, after any repair or alteration of a major character, and thereafter at least once every five years. Thorough examination is annual.
Q
Do existing certificates still count?
Yes. Appliances holding valid certificates issued before 1 January 2026 under other international instruments, such as ILO Convention No. 152, satisfy the requirement. Find and file them before commissioning testing you may not need.
Q
What is a thorough examination?
A detailed examination by a competent person, supplemented where that person judges it necessary by measurement, testing or non-destructive examination, sufficient to reach a reliable conclusion about the appliance’s safety. It is not a visual walk-past, and it produces a report.
Q
What has to be in the register?
The Register of Ship’s Lifting Appliances and Cargo Handling Gear, with certificates in the formats set out in MSC.1/Circ.1663, together with records of routine inspection and maintenance. It is kept on board.
Q
What if there is no manufacturer’s manual?
An operation and maintenance manual prepared by a competent third party is accepted where the manufacturer’s is unavailable. This is common on older ships, and it has a lead time worth starting early.
Build the register once, keep it current automatically
Every lifting appliance with its SWL evidence, manual, certificates and examination history in one place — with due dates for annual examinations and five-yearly load tests surfacing across the fleet before the renewal survey, not during it.
