Part 1 of our SOLAS 2026 Series
The new year is coming at us at a rate of knots and from 1st January 2026, a major update to SOLAS regulations comes into force, changing how shipboard lifting appliances and loose gear are documented, inspected and certified. If your business inspects lifting equipment – whether on vessels, offshore installations or mixed onshore/offshore operations – you need to understand what’s changing and how to stay compliant without drowning in paperwork.
Don’t treat it as a tick box exercise. Use these new regulations as an opportunity to modernise your inspection workflows, reduce admin overhead and deliver a better service to your customers.
What’s changing under SOLAS II-1/3-13?
The new regulation introduces mandatory requirements for the design, testing, inspection and documentation of lifting equipment fitted on ships. This covers shipboard cranes, davits, winches, and associated loose lifting gear like shackles and slings – subject to flag state thresholds (typically 1,000 kg safe working load and above, though some flags exempt smaller gear from design approval requirements).
For new equipment (installed on vessels with keel laid on or after 1st January 2026), full compliance is required from installation: design approval, manufacturing surveys. Product certification, initial report of thorough examinations and load tests.
For existing equipment on vessels with keel laid before 1st January 2026, compliance is triggered at the first renewal survey after the new regulations are in place. For cargo ships, that’s every five years, for passenger ships it’s annual. Equipment already certified under ILO Convention 152 is recognised as compliant, but uncertified gear will need either product certification or a factual statement from a class society following load testing.
The regulation requires ships to maintain a Register of Ship’s Lifting Appliances and Certificates of Test and Thorough Examination. This register, along with all inspection, test and maintenance records, must be available on board and ready to present to flag state and port state control inspectors at any time.
Miss those dates and you’re looking at potential detention during PSC inspections, since non-compliance affects the Cargo Shop Safety Construction Certificate.
Note: There are some important exceptions and this blog is not intended as legal advice. Check which SOLAS II-1/3-13 regulations apply to your specific circumstances and always act in accordance with the relevant flag state guidance.
Why this matters for inspection service providers
If you’re running an inspection business, you’ve probably been managing lifting equipment safely and effectively for years using paper certificates, spreadsheets and filing systems. There’s nothing wrong with that approach, until the volume scales up, the regulations tighten, or a customer needs immediate proof of compliance during an inspection.
You might find that:
- Customers expect faster turnaround on inspection reports
- You’re managing hundreds or thousands of individual assets across different locations, vessels or sites
- Certificate go missing, inspection histories are incomplete, and due dates get overlooked
- Port state control wants the register and certificates immediately
The new SOLAS rules don’t make these problems any easier. You now have mandatory annual thorough examinations (alongside other existing regulations) and periodic load tests, with clearly defined documentation and certification requirements. Miss an examination or misplace a certificate, and your customer faces detention, operational restrictions and financial consequences.
When you’re dealing with multiple vessels, each with dozens of lifting appliances and hundreds of pieces of loose gear, each on its own schedule, manual or clunky systems start to crack. Adopting a digital-first approach makes scaling complex regulatory processes much more reliable.
How RFID and digital asset management cuts through compliance complexity
RFID-enabled inspection systems help operators meet SOLAS requirements more efficiently by automated the documentation and scheduling workload.
Unique identification for every asset
Each piece of lifting equipment, from 50-tonne cranes to a single shackle, gets tagged with a durable RFID, NFC or QR identifier. That tag links directly to a digital record containing design data, certificates, load test reports, inspection findings, repair history and next due dates. Scan the tag, pull up the asset. No guesswork about which certificate belongs to which piece of gear.
Inspection workflows that match SOLAS requirements
Configure your inspection templates to align with class and IMO survey content: annual thorough examinations, five-year load tests, period checks. The software schedules inspections automatically based on these intervals and sends alerts as due dates approach, so nothing slips through the cracks. When your inspector arrives on site with a handheld reader or mobile device, the scan the RFID tag and the correct checklist loads instantly.
Digital registers that satisfy regulators
SOLAS requires a register of lifting appliances and certificates to be available on board and accessible to inspectors. A digital asset management system delivers exactly that: a register shown on board to PSC, flag or class surveyors, with certificates and inspection records linked directly to each asset.
Shore-side, your customers get dashboards showing compliance status across their entire fleet. They can see which vessels have overdue inspections, which certificates are expiring and where action is needed.
Audit trails you can trust
Role-based access controls, time-stamped inspection records and secure cloud storage ensure that your digital documentation is auditable and tamper-resistant. Port state control and class surveyors now expect quick, reliable access to up-to-date record rather than fragmented paper files.
One inspection provider working across marine and offshore sectors replaced a previous system that lacked flexibility, gained automated reporting to customers via a web portal and email alerts, and cut turnaround time on compliance documentation.
Preparing for the SOLAS 2026 updates:
If you’re preparing for the 2026 deadline, here’s what needs to happen:
Audit your current setup
Do you have a complete asset register? Have you identified which equipment is exempt? Are inspection schedules, certificates and maintenance records easily accessible?
Identify gaps in your documentation
Which existing assets lack ILO 152 certification and will need product certification or factual statements after load testing? Where are inspection due dates managed? How quickly can you respond to a request for records?
Map your compliance timeline
When is each vessel’s first renewal survey after 1st January 2026? If it’s a newbuild, do you have compliance in place from installation? Factor in time to train your inspection teams and get competent persons qualified under SOLAS definitions (if not already).
Evaluate digital asset management options
Look for systems that support RFID tagging, automated scheduling based on annual and five-year cycles, and role-based access for customers and regulators. Check the platform can handle both new SOLAS requirements and existing inspection workflows. Make sure reporting is flexible enough to meet customer expectations (web portals, email alerts, PDF certificates, additional document storage).
Ready to get ahead of the regulation?
Ready or not, the 2026 SOLAS lifting appliance regulations are coming. Do you treat compliance as a burden or an opportunity to streamline operations?
RFID-enabled asset management systems liked CheckedOK are already being used by inspection specialists in marine, offshore and heavy lifting sectors to help operators meet regulatory compliance requirements more efficiently, reduce admin time and deliver faster, more reliable reporting.
If you’re managing a large-scale or technically challenging operation, it’s worth having a conversation about how digital asset management can be tailored to your specific setup.
Book a free consultation to talk though your compliance roadmap and explore how CheckedOK and integrated RFID systems can help you meet the new SOLAS requirements with less hassle and more confidence.
Read Part 2: SOLAS Container Loss Reporting 2026: How RFID Tracking Prevents Losses Before They Happen