RECALLING Article 28(b) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization
concerning the functions of the Committee,
RECOGNIZING that increasing numbers of offshore projects and innovations are
creating new and growing demand for the carriage of industrial personnel to and from
offshore facilities and/or other ships,
RECOGNIZING ALSO that, with regard to offshore wind farm service vessels for
the carriage of construction and maintenance personnel, difficulties are reported caused
by the lack of a clear definition for industrial personnel and the lack of legally
binding international safety standards for the carriage of more than 12 industrial
personnel on board in the existing instruments,
RECOGNIZING FURTHER that the International Convention for the Safety of Life
at Sea (SOLAS), 1974, as amended, currently does not define industrial
personnel and that an interim solution is urgently required,
NOTING that the Maritime Safety Committee, at its ninety-sixth session,
decided to develop a mandatory instrument for the carriage of industrial personnel so
that such personnel should not be considered or treated as passengers under SOLAS regulation I/2(e),
RECOGNIZING the urgent need for Member States to ensure the safe carriage of
more than 12 industrial personnel on board vessels engaged on international voyages
while the mandatory instrument is developed by the Organization,
HAVING CONSIDERED, at its ninety-seventh session, the Interim
Recommendations on the safe carriage of more than 12 industrial personnel on board
vessels engaged on international voyages,
1 ADOPTS the Interim Recommendations on the safe carriage of more than 12
industrial personnel on board vessels engaged on international voyages, the text
of which is set out in the annex to the present resolution;
2 INVITES Member States, until such time that the mandatory instrument for
the carriage of industrial personnel enters into force, to:
- .1 note that industrial personnel should not be considered or treated as
passengers under SOLAS regulation I/2(e); and
- .2 apply the annexed Interim Recommendations when regulating ships, regardless
of size, carrying more than 12 industrial personnel.
3 INVITES ALSO Member States to bring this to the attention of all parties
concerned.