Lesson 5 · 15 min
The SOLAS lifting appliance rule – regulation II-1/3-13 since 2026
You will know which cranes and winches SOLAS II-1/3-13 covers, what each ship must have done by its first renewal survey, and how flags apply it.
Start here
The 2-minute primer
New to this? These 6 cards explain the lesson in plain words. Go through them first and the lesson will make sense.
Primer done.
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1/6Picture this
The rule now covers the whole house
Imagine a house where only the front door had a safety inspection. The stairs, the loft ladder and the garage door were never checked, even though the family used them every day.
Ships were a bit like that. Cargo cranes were checked for the dock workers. The small stores crane and the engine-room crane often were not.
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2/6The big idea
Every crane on board now counts
Since 1 January 2026, a safety rule called SOLAS regulation II-1/3-13 covers nearly every crane on a ship: cargo, stores, engine-room, hose-handling and more.
New cranes must be built to approved standards, tested before first use and marked with their safe limit. Older cranes must be tested, examined and marked by the ship’s first big renewal survey after that date.
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3/6Words you'll meet
Six words, in plain English
- SOLAS
- the main international treaty on ship safety, short for Safety of Life at Sea.
- Lifting appliance
- any crane or lifting machine on board used for cargo, stores, the engine room, hoses and similar jobs.
- Renewal survey
- the big inspection every few years when a ship’s safety certificates are renewed.
- Flag Administration
- the country where the ship is registered, which decides how the rules apply on its ships.
- Factual statement
- a signed paper saying an older, never-certified crane was tested and examined, without approving its original design.
- Inoperative
- broken or out of use, and secured so that nobody uses it by mistake.
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4/6Why it matters
Small cranes, real injuries
The provision crane and the engine-room crane are used every day by the crew. Until now many were never tested, marked or certified.
Ships that miss the deadline can face findings from surveyors and port inspectors. For small cranes, read your own flag’s notice: each flag treats cranes under 1,000 kg differently.
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5/6In this lesson
What you’ll be able to do
- Tell which cranes and winches the rule covers, and which it leaves out.
- Know what new and older cranes need, and by when.
- Know what the master does when a crane breaks down.
- Read your own flag’s notice for small cranes.
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6/6Quick check
Which of these is covered by the 2026 crane rule?
Right: engine-room cranes are in the list. Lifeboat launching gear and built-in hatch cover gear have their own rules.
The basics
For decades, the only international rule on testing ship’s cranes was a labour convention about dockers. It was not applied everywhere and did not cover the provision crane, the engine-room crane or the hose-handling crane, which crews use every day.
Since 1 January 2026, SOLAS regulation II-1/3-13 closes that gap. It brings shipboard lifting appliances and anchor handling winches into the statutory survey regime, with the classification society acting for the flag and port State control able to check. Most existing ships must be compliant by their first renewal survey after that date, so most existing ships go through it at their next renewal survey, within about five years of that date.
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In the rest of this lesson
- Try it: SOLAS II-1/3-13: what happens when
- In plain words
- In detail
- What the rules say
- Flag and class notes
- Key numbers
- What inspectors find
- 4 questions people ask
- Quiz: 6 questions
- Ask our engineers about this lesson
Familiarisation training from Al Safwan Academy. Finishing a course shows completion of online familiarisation training: it is not an STCW, flag-approved or manufacturer qualification, and these courses don't replace that training. The manufacturer's manual and your flag's rules always come first.